An Eye for an Eye
by AzaleaPetals
Summary: My original first fanfic on ff. Rated for suggestive themes,mild violence, and lang. L has solved the Kira case AND lived and a year later found a new case to distract himself with. Will this one get to him of will he beat her at her own game?
1. Catching Wind of New Amusements

I only own the character I created. Tell me what you think...okay.

Summary: What if L had won AND lived? In this story Light and Misa have lost the game they were playing and L is on to his next interesting case that involves a cunning thief that always seems to be at least one step ahead of him.

Catching Wind of New Amusements

All she wanted from life was a thrill.

Excitement.

Something to occupy her time and mind.

Problem was life wasn't able to give that to her unless she went out and did something...

Like right now, suspended hundreds of feet in the air, she took a deep breath, letting the adrenaline settle before she continued her game. She took out one of her numberous gadgets, skillfully cut a large hole in the gigantic window, and crawled through, landing on the ground with a soft nearly inaudible thud.

She placed the glass circle carefully on the floor away from the window, and headed towards the living room. She knew the inlay of where she was as well as what she wanted.

Now her only dilemma was finding out _how _to collect said ' wanted' thing.

Her night vision may have been good, but she did not have x-ray vision...as much as that would've helped. So, she examined the wall trying to feel for a indent or rise in the wall of some sort until she found it underneathe the wallpaper.

Quickly, she slid a small knife from her right pant pocket and felt for a top corner to cut it from. When she found it, she meticulously cut from that point down until she got to the bottom corner, and did this for the other four sides, letting the square piece fall to the floor without a sound.

Before her was now a safe. Why someone would hide a safe behind wallpaper, when they could only get to it once before needing new wallpaper...she would never know.

At this time, however, she didn't care as she pressed her ear to the side and cracked the dial.

34-19-5

*Click*

She smiled softly, and opened the door to the safe, which allowed her to view her prize.

Fifty thousand dollars in cash, a gold watch, and several diamond necklaces.

She slid the jewelery into a zip close pocket built into her jacket, and stuffed the bills into her backpack. The young female thief threw the pack over her shoulder, closed the safe and spun the dial with a satisfied grin on her face.

Then she walked into the nearby bathroom and changed into a bellhop/room service person with clothes that she had stolen from the hotels staff closet and as silently as she could she walked out of the room, locking it behind her and walked down the hallway until she turned a corner and spotted one of their carts.

' Perfect!' She thought as she quickly made her way towards it and hide her stuff in the lower compartment covered by a white cloth. She pushed it towards the elevator, and got on, pushing it in, and sighing contentedly as the doors clothes.

Her thief name was Whisper because she was so silent as she stole from people that were still home, asleep in their beds. Her real name was unknown to anyone as she had several aliases.

When she got downstairs, she walked into the empty staff room with her cart, and changed out of the uniform and placed it on the counter in there, and then pulled another outfit from the pack and changed into it while still in one of the bathrooms down there, and walked out the back exit, and into the ally, where she walked to the sidewalk and called a taxi.

Whisper's disguise was a high school uniform she had bought, and so, she looked like a student.

" What are you doing out so late, kiddo?" The woman behind the wheel asked, and Whisper smiled.

" One of my friends lives at that hotel and we were studying and lost track of time."She said sweetly. The lady seemed convinced as she drove her to her destination, and dropped her off at her off on the curb. She thanked the woman and gave her a five dollar tip with the money she owed her anyways before waving as she drove off.

Whisper then turned and headed towards her house with her backpack on her back and a smile on her face. She took out the color contacts that made her eyes brown, and removed the black wig from her head as she stepped into her house.

She let out a sigh and made her way to her room with her backpack still on her back.

Walking towards her bed, and dropped her bag onto it, and then changing into a pair of boxers and a green blouse. She pushed aside her dresser, and dropped to the floor picking up several loose floor boards, one at a time, until she had removed 5 of the, and then she pulled the semi-thick concrete slide compartment, and emptied the contents aside from a thousand dollars that she placed on the floor by her. After emptying the pack she sighed.

Her heart was racing.

' Pretty good for tonight.' She thought as she put the board back into place after sliding the compartment closed.

Whisper placed it in her underwear drawer and went to bed.

* 2 months later*

A man with semi-neat semi disheveled black hair and dark eyes sat crouched as he usually did, in his chair at Wammy's.

He had moved back and started living there again when things with Kira had calmed down, and he was back to scavenging for interesting cases.

Which were hard for him to find these days.

He was licking the chocolate frosting off a doughnut when Watari walked into the room.

" What is it, Watari?" The man asked, noticing the file in the elderly man's hands.

" A case I think you'll find most interesting since the Kira case, sir." Watari replied, handing him the file.

L looked at Watari, and then to the file. He set it on the table in front of him and opened it, eagerly flipping through its contents. When he looked up again he asked.

" How long have these heists been going on?"

" About 5 months now...but that's just a guess." He answered, and the panda-like man nodded.

" Why are they asking for my assistance?" He asked.

" Well, L-san, they keep getting false leads, and they always end up with no evidence or witnesses...that they can be sure of, anyways. They're starting to think there's more than one thief...or that whoever this person is...is inhuman."

L sat there and stared at the file spreading the papers out and looking them over one at a time, letting his mind deduce whatever it possibly could.

He finished off his doughnut, and said. " It's one person." Watari didn't question him on his assumption. He never did since he had always been right before.

" What is their pattern? They aren't taking more as they continue to steal...like a regular kleptomaniac would. This person is..." He paused as he read through some more things.

" Are their pictures of any of the crime scenes in here?" L asked him then, and Watari nodded, and retrieved an envelope from his pocket.

There were at least 250 pictures there. Though only about 25 crime scenes total.

" Are these all of them?" L asked, and Watari shook his head.

" No, sir, only a few. Maybe 5 scene pictures are missing as I could not obtain them. I apologize." L shook his head, not looking at Watari as his eyes scanned over every picture.

" No, this is enough. I was just wondering." He said, and Watari nodded.

" Very well, sir. I'll leave you to your work. Would you like me to get you anything?" L stopped again, and thought for a moment.

" Some cake would be nice, Watari." He said, and then continued his observations.

' _This person is meticulous in what they do, judging by the precise cuts in the glass, wall paper, or wire, and yet at the same time a bit careless since they don't make an attempt to cover their tracks. No fingerprints, of course. The way in is always obvious in every place they steal from. They know the layout of the houses they go to so they can get in, take what they want, and leave. This is no normal kleptomaniac...how have they not been caught by the police yet? The way they left is relatively unknown. I can't even pinpoint the general area...these are all over the place. And no real clusters.'_

He was definitely taking this case.

When Watari returned, he found that L had pinned every crime scene photo. Ten photos for each scene.

Categorizing them.

Identifying differences and similarities.

Anything and everything.

" Why do they call her Whisper, Watari?" L asked the man as he set the cake down on the table that was still covered in the papers filled with records of the thefts.

" I don't know, sir."

" They're quiet...we might just be looking for someone quiet, meticulous, calculating, and..." He thought for a moment as though searching for a word.

" Bored. Just to name off a few possible chracteristics." L finished.

" I assume you're taking this case then?" Watari said more than asked.

L nodded as he stared at the pictures on the wall with his thumb pressed up against his upper lip.

" I suppose. It does, afterall, appear to be quite an interesting case since they haven't been caught by the authorities yet..."

_' After 5 months...' _He finished in his head.


	2. Game Start

Hey, yeah, this is the second chapter!^_^ Enjoy.

Game Start

* 5 days later*

Computer on one side of room playing her 5 hour playlist fullblast...

Check

Computer on other side of room playing a different 5 hour playlist fullblast...

Check

TV on just below medium volume...

Check

Twenty year old thief sitting in the middle of her living room, eyes closed in deep meditation...

Double check.

Whisper...who used an alias of Masumi Kozakura on the deed to her house, was listening to an episode of House.

Every single word.

Until the news butted in, and explained their reason for interrupting was because they were told they had to play a broadcast.

Masumi's eyes snapped open just in time to see a familiar symbol on the TV.

Her concentration destroyed she quickly voice commanded her computers to pause in their songs so she could hear the distorted voice of the famous detective she had heard a few times before many years ago.

" **Whisper**." It started, and she sat therelistening curiously at the mention of the name.

" **Five days ago I received news of your antics and that even the most advanced police force in Japan has been unable to pin point your exact location and capture you as your break-ins are all over Japan.**" She cocked her head." **That you've been pulling at the police force in every direction for the past 5 months. Leaving a mess behind and yet no trace of yourself. This has peaked my interest...and so I've decided to take this case.**"

Masumi's ears practically perked up at that notion.

A game?

She smiled and decided that she would wait 10 hours before responding. Just in case he was trying to find the region of Japan she was living in like he had done with L

For now she would finish her 5 hour meditation and think about how she would reply.

" Play." She said, smiling at the word before turning the volume on her TV up as well and closing her eyes.

_' This is going to be fun.'_

*Ten hours later at the Wammy house*

L was wondering how Whisper would react to this.

Would they becoming more risky?

Or less?

Would they stop completely?

He didn't want to think about them doing the last one as it would make tracker them down more difficult for him.

Other questions plagued his mind before Watari walked in.

" They have replied to your earlier broadcast." He said turning on the TV, and L climbed onto a cushion on the couch and watched as a W appeared on the screen.

A distorted voice started up.

" **I am Whisper and** **I must admit I wasn't expecting this, L-san. It doesn't matter though. If you would like to challenge me to a game of cat and mouse...then I accept. **"

_' Game? Well, it does make sense.' _L thought as he ate a peice of strawberry cake.

" **Game start**." Was the last thing he heard before the broadcast ended.

" They have a childish side..." The odd detective mummbled.

" It would appear so." Watari agreed with a nod.

" I wonder how long this ' game' will go for and who will win." L said.

He didn't know whether or not to believe that she was in the Kansai region, where he had last broadcasted his message.

Or to think that she might be in the Kanto region.

' _Does Whisper know that this was not only a message but a test to find her location? If she knows it's a test...then she lives is in the Kanto region because that was the only region I had to broadcast messages like this to Kira. Then again, they could have figured out on their own that it was a possible trap and just decided to wait until they knew I had broadcasted it to another region or two..._' He contemplated as he nibbled on his thumb nail.

_' I cannot use this way to pinpoint their location...not like I did with Kira. There are too many possibilities. I need to think of another way to find out where in Japan she lives.'_

*Back with Masumi*

She sat at her desk, typing rapidly. Searching for her next place to ransack.

She knew L found it unusual that she only took things that were hidden, protected by traps and other mechanisms, or both.

That was something that made him curious.

Once she found a place, she studied it...for an hour.

Then Masumi got packed and appropriately dressed for her outing.

This time, the ownerof her chosen house was having a party.

His birthday party.

So, she had to pick out something formal for her to change into for when she was done in order to escape.

She walked into her bathroom and pulled out her color contacts, looking through them until she found blue ones, and put them in as though she did it everyday.

Which was almost true.

Then she found wig with short black hair, and made sure to put all her hair up so it would look completely real.

Applying make up and adding a fake mole to her left cheek, she walked out of the bathroom, and decided to wear a green cocktail dress, since they were good for just about any formal party.

Packing it neatly into her pack she walked out her back door, and pushed her motorcycle a few blocks before hopping on it and riding towards the area as fast as she could without getting caught by the street police.

Parking a few blocks away, she made her way to the building as swiftly as possible, and was soon inside, climbing through a window and making sure the room was locked, she made her way to the master bedroom.

' _Let's see how good your timing is L-kun.' _She thought with a slight giggle as she picked the lock on the door.


	3. Plots and Pastry Shops

Third chapter...I don't own anything here but Masumi/Whisper. Enjoy!

Day Job

" Was she somehow warned? How did she successfully steal that money? And the notes...she's mocking me." L murmured with a hint of annoyance...and then his cell phone rang.

He didn't even glance at it from the news channel as he answered it.

" Hello?"

" _Ryuuzaki."_ The voice was familiar.

" Mr. Yagami?" L questioned.

_" Yes, Ryuuzaki, it's me. Those of us from the Force want to help with this case like the last...that is...if you are willing to let us work with you like we did the Kira case."_

L considered this.

" Very well, it's not like I'm in the same amount of danger as with the Kira case, but I would still like for you to only bring those that have already seen my face." He explained, turning as Watari walked in wheeling a cart full of sweets.

_" Understood, Ryuuzaki-san...are we going to move into the other building again?Unless you're already there?"_

" We shall all meet there in 2 hours. Do not be late, if you can help it, there are things to discuss." L stated and hung up, picking up a brownie.

" Get the car ready, Watari. I'll pack everything up in here."

" Of course." Watari replied and walked out of the room as L slowly made his way over to the wall of pictures.

" They call this thief Whisper...and yet..." He looked over them.

'These crime scenes...why? Why only the hidden items in the house? And how? She walked out the front door...and unnoticed...without a backpack...where did she hide the money and so quickly?' He pondered as he starte to unpin the photos from the wall and pack them in and envelope.

' They could help in solving this case sooner.'

* The night before*

Whisper glanced around the room.

Big was an understatement with this room.

It was Gi-FRIKKIN-normous.

Not to mention all to herself for the next 5 or so minutes.

The walls had green wall paper with ivory designs, a bookcase with books on who knows what, and a desk in front of a window.

' Emergency escape route.' She mentally labeled as she looked around.

This time the safe wasn't behind wall paper.

That would've been too easy.

Therefore, boring.

In stead...it was right on the wall.

She spotted it when she walked to the center of the room and turned around.

' So you can look at it whenever you want.' She thought as she looked up at the beautiful scenery of a lake by a cottage surrounded by trees. Then there was also the couple of deer.

Whisper smiled.

' Such a peaceful picture...too bad I don't have the time to enjoy it right now.' She thought, and her eyes darted around for something to climb on.

She got a chair and placed it in front of the bookcase, and climbed on top of it.

' Thank you practice as a child pretending I was a monkey.' She thought as she stood up steadily and loved the fact that this guy was decent enough to bolt the thing to the wall.

Her eyes moved over the very large painting, and estimated it weight.

' Well, girl...time to wing it.' She thought, and felt the tingle of a thrill begin at the top of her spine and makes its way down.

That's when she decided to carefully pick up the framed piece of art, and moved her head to the wall, checking to make sure she didn't scrape the back of the expensive picture.

' Lovely.' She thought as she got it in both of her hands and set it down as carefully and soundlessly as possible on the ground.

Reveiling a hole in the wall with a familiar looking dial.

' Wow...really?' She thought as she looked around again and puffed her cheeks.

She exhaled slowly.

Then her eyes landed on another bookcase less then a yard away.

' Hmmm.' She thought looking from the bookcase and the safe.

Whisper muttered something inaudible to herself and moved her leg over to it as gracefully as she could.

Her eyes popped as she felt her leg hit the corner of the bookcase.

' I wonder how this is gonna work now.' She thought, looking back to the safe, and cracking the code.

It swung open, and she pulled her back pack to her side as quickly and carefully as possible.

She took another deep breath and started gathering the money into her pack.

Seventy-five thousand dollars.

Three rings and a silver watch.

When she was finished she placed the backpack fully onto her back, closed the safe, and looked at the ground.

' Now, for the hard part. On five.' She thought bitterly, and readied momentum in her left foot to push herself to her right.

One...

Two...

Five...

She pushed herself over early so the fear couldn't hit her before she did it and screw her up.

' I need food.' She thought as she stood on the bookcase, and quickly hopped down onto the chair.

From there she got to the floor.

She looked at the painting on the floor and got an idea.

Whisper pulled out a red sharpie and got to work on the back of the photo.

Then corners of her mouth went up after she set the painting on the ground in front of the desk.

Another idea hit her, and her smile widened.

' Might as well gain some extra points.' She thought as she snuck towards the door.

She fixed her wig, and peaked out the door.

No one.

She slowly walked towards the nearest bathroom and locked herself in it.

Stripping down and changing into the cocktail dress, she checked herself in the mirror.

' I've never had so much fun before.' Whisper mentally squee'd before tossing her bag full of everything she couldn't be seen with out the window.

Stepping out of the last room, she smiled as she walked down the steps, and out the door.

Within the next 10 minutes police were swarming the house.

* Back to present time*

" She tagged every room in the upstairs hallway?" Matsuda, the youngest member in the police force asked.

Photos were strewn all over the wall, pinned up by L as he sat in his chair and looked over each one.

" Yes, it would seem so," L started. The red sharpie had been found everywhere.

A bathroom mirror.

A window.

The back of the painting.

A wall.

The back of a door.

In a different place with every room.

" Where could she have possibly hid the stolen goods?" Mogi asked.

" I think...she tossed them out a window or something before she went downstairs."

" She walked out the front door?" Aizawa inquired with awe.

" If she hadn't we wouldn't have gotten this picture of her." L said as he pushed his chair ( that had wheels) over to the giant computer and typed a few keys and a girl's face popped up onto the screen.

Short black hair and blue eyes.

" Think she's a foreigner?" Mr. Yagami asked as he noted her eyes.

Unusual for a Japanese citizen.

" Unfortunately, it was a false lead." L said as he snacked on cookies.

" What?" The squad asked.

" I tried finding a file on the person this matched...I ended up getting spammed." L said, and most of the team was o.O.

The young genius pushed his chair back over to the wall with the pictures of the notes.

They all had numbers on them and the last one said

**_Whisper-5 L-0...you'll need to work harder than that, L-kun._**

" How are we going to catch her if we don't know anything about her?" Matsuda asked, freaking out.

" Calm down, Matsuda-san. Besides we know a few things about her."

Mogi nodded.

" She likes challenges. This could be why she only steals hidden goods and left the painting." He said, and L nodded.

" That's one thing." L agreed, eating another cookie.

" She thinks ahead and researches the inside of every house she steals from before ransacking them." Aizawa said, and L nodded once more.

" She thinks quickly also and seems to have her whole theft planned down to the last detail." Yagami said.

" She's keeping score?" Matsuda guessed, trying to stay in the loop with the others.

They all sighed except for L.

" No, that is something, Matsuda." The panda-eyed man muttered, and they all looked at him in disbelief.

" Wha? Really?" Matsuda asked.

" Yes, this means that we have to gain points. Play the game back." L had a playful glint in his eye.

He himself was competitive afterall.

" I _have_ always believed in an eye for an eye, afterall." L smiled.

* Back with Whisper*

" Masumi!" A hyper active 13 year old girl squee'd and ran up to the woman.

Glomping her.

" Nanayo!" She said back.

" Now let go of me before someone steals the money in the register." She said with a smile, and pulled her off of her.

" Please, Whisper only steals money that's hard to get to." Nanayo grinned.

She bopped her upside the head with a smile and walked over to stand behind the counter.

" So, what are you getting this time?" She asked her as she young girl flew around the store.

Nanayo sped around the store nearly flying.

Masumi, being used to this, listened patiently for her answer.

" All. Of. This. Oh, and this, and this...and, and, and this." Nanayo said, dropping the last item on the table.

" What are you going to use 3 cakes, 12 cupcakes, and 4 pies for?" Masumi asked, giving her a knowing -_- look.

" Storage." Nanayo said to quickly.

" Nana-chan..." Masumi started.

" Okay. Okay...my mom's throwing this party and sent me here with a bunch of money and I decided to buy more than we needed so I could eat some of it on my own."

" By some...you mean...a whole cake." Masumi said, and Nanayo grinned.

" Mayyyyyyybeeee..." Nanayo said, giving her puppy eyes.

Masumi sighed, and reluctantly took her money, handing her her bags.

" Tell your mom I say hi, Nana-chan." Masumi smiled.

" Of course, Masu-chan!" Nanayo giggled before she walked out the doors with the familiar bell chime.

Masumi sighed with a smile, and shook her head.

Nanayo came in every once in awhile and was her most common customer.

Also a pretty good friend.

Her stomach growled.

Masumi walked over to one of her cake stands and took a peice from it and set it on her counter.

" One of the many good things about working in a sweets shop." Masumi beamed as she took a chair, and placed it against the wall.

She picked up her plate and sat down to enjoy her meal.

With one hand she pushed the long hair of her wig away.

Yes, even at work she wore a disguise.

The wig was blonde, and she had it up in a ponytail.

Getting into her cake, she heard the familiar bell chime and an elderly man walked in.

" Hello, what can I get for you?" Masumi asked, watching as the man looked around as if he had never been there before.

" I didn't realize until now that there was a shop like this so close by." He said, and she smiled at him.

He looked around, taking his time, and she ate her piece of cake.

Mmmmm, lemon cake.

When he got to the counter he placed a strawberry cake, a box of chocolate doughnuts, a bag of chocolate chip cookies, and a chocolate cream pie on it carefully.

" Ummm." Masumi started, looking at the large amount of sweets, but decided not to ask.

" You wouldn't happen to have strawberry cheesecake somewhere around here, now would you?" He asked.

Someone like strawberries.

" Oh, yes. Are there no more there?" Masumi asked, looking over at the cheesecakes, and found none there.

" Wow, I don't think I even remembered to put those out here today." She sweatdropped.

" I'll just be a second, sir." She said, and hurriedly walked to the back of the store.

' He's actually buying all of that?' She thought as she came back holding a fresh strawberry cheesecake.

" Here you are?" She told him, and he smiled and thanked her after he paid.

" I guess there are people that buy stuff for storage." She said outloud, and wished she had asked him what it was all for.

" Who knows, I might see him again." She shrugged.

He was kinda old...at least his late 50's.

Maybe it was for his kids?

Like a party...

Or something.

She looked around, and decided she needed to close up.

There was a house she needed to study that she was going to get some stuff from tomorrow.


	4. Armiesof Cake and Last Resorts

So Much for Last Resorts

*With L*

Once again L was sitting in that same chair, in that 'peculiar' way of his.

Staring at the wall covered in the pictures from most of Whisper's heists.

He didn't even glance over his shoulder when he heard Watari's footsteps as the man walked into the room.

"I found a nearby shop that sells a lot of your favorites, L- san." Watari said, and he placed the cart of sweets near the insomniac.

L looked up at him for a moment, and nodded.

"That's good, Watari. Thank you." He said, and the old man left the room after nodding back.

L turned back to the pictures. Thumb seemingly digging into his upper lip as he looks over every detail of every picture all over again.

'Where did I put that tape?' He questioned himself as he swiveled around to one side, and then he spotted it on his desk.

' Watari.' He figured as he picked it up and placed it in the VCR.

He sat in his crouched position and watched the clip play for the first time.

The owner of the house only had that one camera in that one spot.

Facing the door.

His eyes widened slightly as the person walked in expecting to see her face, but then he remembered that it wasn't her real face and his eyes went back to their normal size.

His eyes followed her as she walked into the room, and looked around almost lazily.

'Almost as if she owned the place.' He thought as he continued to watch her.

He watched her get the chair and place it by the bookcase.

'How did she even know _where_ it was?' He pondered.

Then he paused as he watched her pick up the painting and set it down as gently as she could.

'Did she do that so that it wouldn't make a noise? Or so that she didn't destroy it?' It didn't make any sense to him.

He cocked his head curiously at her act of faith in judging the distance and if she could make it.

'She was successful because of luck?' He looked at the screen, his mouth agape by an inch or so.

Then he turned to the cart, and saw the treats.

'I wonder how long that store's been there. Right there, under our noses. Just like this girl.' He thought as he turned his head back in time (with a piece of strawberry cake with chocolate icing on a plate) to see Whisper smile as she looked at the painting.

'She brings a backpack to every heist…a tool pack of some sort…multiple disguises…most of the theft was planned- but it seems as though she wasn't planning on the obstacle of getting to the safe.'

L was focusing on his thoughts, trying to figure out how she was always a step ahead of them.

'She went out the front door of the place.' He thought with agitation.

He had lost round one.

L hated to lose.

His next thought was.

'This cake is delicious. I should ask Watari to go to that shop more often.'

*One month later with Whisper*

With her store currently closed she was spending her time making more sweets.

Opening time for the day was only a couple of hours away.

She was having so much fun.

Thinking about her new game.

She was still in the lead with a 7-1.

L had nearly caught her during her last theft.

That had annoyed her, but thankfully, she had changed her appearance and outfit in time to have them walk right past her.

It had also excited her to know that she was making him actually start playing the game.

Not to mention the thrill of almost getting caught.

Whisper was spreading icing on a chocolate cake when she paused.

What happened if/when she won?

Would the game just continue on forever like Kira's case until she got caught?

Or could she escape by just disappearing?

'Screw that shit.'

Whisper was never one to give up, and she would sooner die than have her fun taken away from her.

In the end she ended up making quite a bit of stuff that morning, and setting it all up before opening it place up.

She found she had been right about the old man.

He had become a weekly regular and the majority of her profit.

He always bought so much, and she had learned his name to be Watari.

Whisper thought him to be a very nice man, and found that he had been buying these sweets for a friend of his that had a serious sweet tooth.

It was then that she realized that she never learned this friend's name.

She only shrugged at this, though.

Whisper knew better than most that name didn't matter.

Or at least that they shouldn't.

Whisper smiled down at her newest ' masterpice'.

She loved decorating the cakes the most.

The one she was working on right on her front counter was currently being given a purple rose with several green leaves that vined around the cake in a very flattering way.

She placed it in the window display area with some of her other samples.

"Welcome, Watari-san. Strawberry ice cream cake, lemon tarts, assorted chocolates, strawberry cheesecake, and a banana cream pie. It's all there." She said, smiling at the familiar man.

"Thank you very much, Masumi-san." He said, and started for the door before telling her to have a nice day.

She just smiled, all the while knowing that the rest of the day would be long.

Watari was making her curious.

What kind of person ate so many sweets in about a week or less?

She didn't want to think about that and she didn't really think it was all that important since she was getting the profit.

She was getting bored.

'I hate being so easily bored with things.' She thought with an annoyed sweatdrop.

* Another month later with L*

" Watari...I have been thinking and I've decided that I would request help from Light Yagami." He notice his assistant pause out of his peripheral vision.

" I know this is a slight risk...but Light will not try to kill me and will not be able to if he doesn't have the Death Note."

Watari seemed more relieved after hearing this.

" Would you like me to call the prison holding him then?" He asked, and L nodded his head.

" Yes, thank you."

' I wonder if he will actually help us with this case.'

He didn't say this out loud because he knew this would only make things worse for his elderly butler.

' He should since I'm sure he doesn't have anything better to do.' He considered as the task force walked in.

" You're letting him out?" Aizawa fumed.

" No, I'm merely suggesting he help us solve this case instead of having to spend all his time in that jail cell." L reasoned.

" Isn't he dangerous?" Matsuda asked.

" Not without his notebook." L replied calmly.

Through all of this that had been going on, L hadn't turned around from the video he was watching intently.

He was gathering more information.

Finding out how she thought.

' Does she make these disguises of hers or buy them? How haven't I been able to catch her yet?Does she have an ID for each disguise?' He was eating ice cream cake as his mind mulled over these questions.

Watari, not soon after, walked into the room with none other that Light Yagami.

" Hello again." L greeted politely, and Light frowned.

" Show me what you've got and I'll tell you what I think." He said, and L nodded and told Watari to show him the photos, files, and videos.

" A girl? What's her name?" Light asked turning his head to the man sitting in the

" We don't know. I don't think we'd be asking for your assistance if we did." L smirked slightly.

' Seems like prison has had some affect on his mind. If only a little.'

" She's wearing a disguise? She looks the same in both of the videos. Unless she's wearing the same disguise and knows you'd be watching her and decided not to give that away and make it obvious."

Light was finally thinking things through again.

This made L smile because this meant that Light would be useful to them.

" Tell me what you know. It'll help me get caught up more quickly instead of me finding out this information myself, which could take hours." Light said, and L just shrugged.

" Fine then."

He had no other choice.

* With Whisper*

Hacking person files of a computer system was annoying.

Whisper only did it as a last resort.

This called for it.

She found what she was looking for and her eyes popped open like dinner plates.

" They let Light Yagami out of the prison?"

This only meant one thing for her.

That she wasn't the only one bringing out last resorts.

Or at least what seemed like a last resort now.

She wondered how far this game would go as it was now at 9-2.

Just because she was in the lead didn't necessarily mean she was winning.

All it took was for her to have one little slip up, and she was screwed.

X'ing out of all her hack work, she stood up, and decided it was time to do a little grocery shopping for her shop.

She was about to spend her night making sweets while listening to Motzart remixes on full blast.

Throwing on a blue turtle neck sweater, black slacks, and some comfy shoes she walked out the door.

Her finishing touch was her Ipod Nano earpieces that she had in her ears as soon as she had her shoes on.

She went to various stores for her ingredients just so she could spend more time outside of her house.

Whisper was dancing around in an empty aisle as she looked for cake mix.

Then a thought hit her and she paused.

Watari was more than likely going to show up tomorrow.

He mentioned to her that his friend liked strawberries.

Her eyes moved in the direction of where she knew the fruit and vegetables to be.

' Might as well since he buys most of my strawberry stuff.' She decided after playing a game of eenie-meanie-miney-moe with yes and no.

So, she bought 5 boxes of cake mix ( 2 chocolate, 2 lemon, and an orange one), and headed towards the fruits and vegetables section with her basket.

Once she got there she contemplated how many boxes she needed.

' I have 10 or so small boxes at the shop already, so I think I'll buy 10 more.' She thought, nodding to herself.

She bought those, and got back into her car.

Whisper had a system.

1. Drive car to an area

2. Park

3. Go into one store

4. Buy what was needed

5. Put it in the trunk of her car

6. Go into another

7. Repeat Steps 4-6 until everything needed was bought and Whisper was happy with herself.

It was a system that she abided by every couple of weeks or months depending on how much she bought.

* Fast Forward an hour*

Whisper was in her kitchen making two cakes at once while hopping around to the techno remix of Motzart she had on replay.

If one would walk into her kitchen right at this very moment they would find it covered with either bowls of some sort of sweet mix or an already finished delectability just waiting to be decorated.

She had already started decorating a few of them.

Made one wonder why she was having so much fun making mostly strawberry sweets for someone she had never met.

The young girl didn't care as she checked on the cheesecakes in her fridge.

Did I mention she was almost literally surrounded by an army of sweets of varying types?

' I hope I didn't put too many strawberryies in any of these.' She thought as she closed the door.


	5. Yagami Backwards

Yagami Backwards

One month later

For most, waking up in the morning was something that was dreaded.

Those people weren't their own boss.

This is why Whisper loved her job.

Well, that and it tended to be a good distraction from life and normality.

On this nice sunny morning Whisper got up and flipped on the TV in her room. She was always watching for any messages from L while she was at home.

She thought about how the day might be and what events it might consist of as she took her sweet time getting ready for work.

He was good competition unlike a lot of the other so called 'detectives' around the world.

Let alone Japan.

Making her way into her kitchen she started gathering as many bags as possible and carrying them out to her car…as she was already in her work disguise.

She had more with her than she usually did and it made her wonder if it was because of work itself…or if distracting herself was becoming more difficult for her than it usually was.

On the way to her store she was constantly changing the station and it bugged her how nothing good was on when she needed it to be.

Now, unpacking the cakes and other various desserts from the car was different than waking up in the morning, as she was now there and needed to make sure that none of the colder desserts got warm.

" Masumi-chan!" Called a voice, and she turned her head and saw Watari walking down the street with a man about the same age as her.

Whisper noticed the way he walked, dressed, and looked in general.

She became very curious.

' Is this the friend that Watari is always buying cakes for?'

It didn't seem very likely to her considering how thin he was.

She smiled, and decided she'd find out soon anyways.

" Watari-san, you're early. I'm just restocking shop now. Is this the friend you've been talking about?" She said as she walked to the doors, holding the cakes in one hand and getting the keys out of my pocket with the others.

She glanced at him and noticed how he wasn't looking at her in a leering way, but really more of an observing sort of way.

Still, it was a bit unnerving.

" Yes, this is Ryuuga...now would you like some help, Masumi-chan?" Watari requested as he held the door open for her.

" Only if you don't mind helping? No discounts for helping though." She beamed wickedly, and Watari chuckled.

Ryuuga walked to her car, and carried out some sweets.

" It is very nice to finally meet you, Masumi-san." The man said politely as they both set the cakes and such down on a counter.

" And you as well, Ryuuga-san. I must say I find it amazing how you can eat all of those sweets and not get sick. Not to mention you appear to be in good physical shape. Your metabolism must be impecable." She noted, and he looked at the cakes they had brought in.

That's when she noticed his thumb was pressing his lower lip to one side.

'Interesting habit.'

" Do you make all of these yourself, Masumi-san?" He asked her, and she smiled.

" Yes, I do. My mother left me recipes for many different desserts and snacks before she died." She said, her vision nearly glazing over at the fond memories of when she used to spend her free time helping her mother after her father died.

She shook it off.

" This place was passed down to you then?" He said to himself more than me as he looked around the back room.

She nodded, and smiled.

Then she remembered something.

" Oh, could you put the cheesecakes over here? To keep them cold. I'm going to go bring in more." She said, and made her way outside again after he nodded and started doing just that.

L's POV

After we unpacked all the treats and cakes I was able to look around more for what I wanted.

This Masumi Kozakura girl made these every night? It just didn't seem possible.

' Her house and this shop were passed down to her after her parents passed away. This means that she isn't likely to be Whisper. Though, that doesn't necessarily mean that she is taken out of suspected possible women. If Light were here we'd be able to get his insight on this, but if he were here, she'd know something was amiss. He is still supposed to be in jail and his face was all over the news before he went to prison.' He thought, and frowned slightly.

" So, what do you do for a living, Ryuugs-san?" She asked, cocking her head to the side slightly as she took a bite from a cake she had.

" I work at home." He stated.

" Interesting." She said, and set the plate down and walked towards the back room.

" I don't know how to thank you guys."

" A large piece of cake will do." L said as he examined the cake in the display case.

" Gladly. Watari-san, would you like one as well?" She asked, and he shook his head.

" Just give Ryuuga-san my peice. I actually do not care much for sweets." He said, and her eyes widened slightly, he noticed.

Then she shrugged seeming to understand.

" Thank you." He said, taking the plate from her.

" No problem." She said, and even got us some milk, and joined us with her own piece.

Awhile later we left and headed back to the building.

" Your opinion, Ryuuga-san." Watari said after we got there and L was once again sitting at his chair, typing away.

" Well, she has the same body type as our suspect, although that doesn't give us much. She's light on her feet; agile. Also a exceptional multitasker. Very neat and tidy, and we have her profile and real face. Her file shows all of her past and present information. Updated at the right times, and untampered. She has a clean file, and has never had so much as a ticket for littering." He replied.

There was a pause.

" Where's Light?" L then asked, turning around in his seat.

" He's in a room, here." Watari said, turning on one of the TV's.

Another pause as L saw what was on the screen and then Watari turned it off.

" Is that what they call awkward, Watari?" L asked as he went back to his search of information.

" Yes, L-san, I believe so." Watari replied as he left the room.

For the moment the screen had been on the two viewers had witnessed Light and Matsuda in the middle of a viscious make out session on Light's bed.

' Now I know why he never seemed even remotely attracted to Misa.' L thought, and then wondered why Matsuda seemed so eager to date a woman.

' Maybe he just needed help getting out of the closet.' L thought.

later that night...

They got her.

They actually caught her.

L was watching the news with anticipation as he saw almost a dozen police officers enter the home of one of the houses he had bugged ( with permission of course) and set up traps in.

Lately, L found that when he thought he was getting down her usual, she would switch it up on him.

Therefore, throwing him off her tail and having to start all over again.

She seemed to have been caught in one of the traps they had set up in the house.

Where the net drops over them and they can't get out.

They were starting to uncover the one inside, when...

It wasn't her.

It was actually the owner of the house that had been sleepwalking.

L was giving the TV a '-_- really?' look as he sighed and got up from the couch.

That's when he heard the news reporter say...

" Wait wait! They seemed to have found a tape in the house. Reports also say that the man had a majority of his trustfunds in the safe. A total of 60 grand."

' Just play the tape.' He thought impatiently.

" We have the tape now and authorities have agreed to play it for us as it has been said it is for L himself." She informed just as Watari walked into the room, pushing another cart of newly bought sweets into the room.

L carefully picked up a plate of strawberry cheesecake from the cart and sat with it in front of him. The whole time trying to keep his eyes on the screen.

" **L-san, it has been awhile since we've talked. I know you have a criminal working with you now. A Light Yagami, the same one that tried killing you and countless others in search of a ' perfect world'. To become their God. It's almost like you've become desperate, L-san. Is this true?" **There was a slight glitch on the tape." **Also, if you are searching for where I live I insist you stop. You see, I have many homes and many aliases."** A pause, and then she says**." Be sure to tell Light I say 'Hi'." **The tape ends.

L was mildly surprised.

" So, she found out about Light joining us for this game...I wonder if I can trick her somehow." He considered this for a moment.

" Watari, find the others and tell them that we are going to mislead Whisper before her next theft via internet, and that we must not put it in the news. Keep it in the more hidden files. She had to of hacked our computers in order to have gained the information on Light's release." Watari nodded and left the room.

Finishing off his third peice of cake he moved back to the heists he caught on tape.

' Who is this girl? How is she evading us everytime? She researches her houses before she steals from them, yes, but to what extent?' He saw the first tape. The one where it showed her walking into the guys office as though she lived there herself.

She was driving him crazy. He had been working on this theft case for nearly half a year, and they still had no idea who this girl was.

He then started on some cherry tarts he had gotten that day.

' Where is she now?' He wondered.' When's her next hit? Will we finally catch her this time?'

For the next month of there not being any thefts L was unable to sleep at all.

With Masumi/Whisper

She was waiting for her reply and was once again going through her 5 hour meditation.

This time with Beethoven playing a list of her personal favorites on one computer and the other was playing a hardstyle techno version of ' Zombies' by The Cranberries.

She kept the TV on the news.

Something not so interesting to listen to just to make it more difficult.

She was thinking about what she had found on the internet during another hack through police files.

Whisper knew now that L had probably been able to guess that that was how she had gained her information on Light's let out.

She didn't trust the police file recently put up, didn't want to.

She also wanted to ransack the house anyways.

' Just to piss him off for trying to trick me in such an obvious way. I think I'll even leave him a note in the safe.' She though with a smile.

After her meditation, she stood up and headed to one of the computers after pausing the music.

As she typed the message, she also listened in on the news.

" So, he finally replies." She says while smiling softly at the TV.

**" You weren't supposed to tell people about what you found out, Whisper. Hacking through police files is illegal on itself. Please, find another way to communicate with me." **She giggled slightly as she heard this.

He was good at coding his messages.

Plus, she was working on doing just that.

' You better have something good in this place, L-kun.' She thought as she typed her message.

She had already researched the place and had her plan.

Whisper's eyes moved to her printed as it copied her words onto actual paper thinking of where she would leave it.

Once she had it she folded it up and danced her way into her room to get ready for that night.


	6. Curiosities and Certainties

Warning: This has slight yaoi...my first attempt. Fluff at most, I think. For the yaoi anyways.

Curiosity and Certainties

' If nothing's in here AND it's a trap…I'm gonna be pissed.' Whisper thought with a slight pout from her spot in a tree near the house.

Her eyes counted the floors of the hotel from her spot as she dug in her pack for her rock climbing equipment.

She found the 3rd floor.

As well as the balcony to it.

' Too predictable.' She threw that idea out and looked for another entrance.

Window?

' Not much better.'

Then her eyes landed on a rather large vent.

' Hmm, I might not need this rope after all.' She grinned as she put it away.

Her eyes then roamed over the area around her, her now sensitive ears picking up on almost every little sound made.

She didn't do such onerous meditating for nothing.

Whisper dropped her backpack carefully on the ground and then did a cherry drop out of the tree and landed on the ground inaudibly.

She looked from one side, to another, and then behind her on her sprint towards the side of the building.

The young thief wanted to play ninja for a bit before allowing her viewers to see her.

After testing the weight of the vent cover, she took out a screwdriver, and proficiently removed the screws in about a minute or so.

Placing it down to the side on the ground near bushes, she got out some gloves with more grip, and put them on.

She tested them by putting her hand on the bottom of the vent, and then pulling it away.

It didn't make a dent or even really any sound.

It made Whisper smile.

She started climbing up the vent, counting the bolts in the side as she went up (out of habit).

Once she found it, she locked the number in the back of her mind and started forward instead of continuing up.

On her way to her destination, she passed over the person's bedroom and saw a man fast asleep in bed, his balcony door was even unlocked.

' This makes me question L-kun's impression of me.' She thought with a -_- face.

She moved on until she found her desired stop.

'Now, let's see, what's around this room.' She pondered as she shifted to one side, and grabbed her pack.

Out from her pack she pulled a mini camera device and a flip open TV that wasn't much larger.

Slowly and carefully she moved the camera through the vent door, and moved it in a few circles several times just to make sure I got everything.

She brought the camera back up and put it back in her pack as the mini cam of hers showed her several pictures.

There were quite a few red dots.

' Damn, way more than last time.' She thought as she counted them.

In this room alone there were at least 15 cameras.

There weren't any sound or motion detectors here, like last time.

Whisper felt chills cool her nerves. Starting from the top of her back and stopping at the area just above her rear.

' No more ninja antics?' She pouted.

She really needed to start getting some of those smoke bomb thinga-ma-goobers.

Mental cursing would take too long, so instead, she concentrated on finding a way to get out of the vent silently.

She decided to use her screwdriver again, along with her sticky gloves.

In the end she knew that if the cameras were catching her on tape that she probably looked like an upside down version of Samara from the Ring.

Without the really long dark hair and dress, the latter being replaced with a formfitting all black suit that was meant more for moving around in than anything else.

Not to mention the fact that she was climbing out of a vent instead of a TV.

Whisper drew in a breath as she hung by her hands from the vent, and looked around.

' Now, this person would hide their valuables where?' She asked herself as she turned her head from side to side.

Then she turned to the desk and let her lithe form drop to the ground.

She stood up straight to her full height, and smiled at one of the cameras and even waved before she strode towards the desk.

Whisper then just stood there and examined the desk.

' Is this right?' She asked herself as she took in the rest of the room again with her contact covered eyes.

She shrugged and then crouched down to see nothing.

'Is this some kind of joke?'

Whisper was starting to get angry.

And then she moved her eyes to the floor trying to figure out if anything was wrong.

That's when she noticed it.

There was a slight level change from the from part ot the desk to the back.

Also, the desks front legs had purposely been cut shorter just to pull off the illusion.

She found the cut in the fabric by a leg of the desk and pulled up, revealing the familiar shiny silver safe door.

' Hello, bestestest buddy.' Her mind cooed as she moved the dial slowly to pick up the numbers.

She heard the click and opened the safe.

Whisper estimated the sum of 68,000 dollars at least.

Before closing it, she saw a camera on the inside and got a bad feeling.

She beamed and then decided that she wouldn't leave yet as she took the folded note from her pocket and dropped it into the safe.

Instead she'd climb further up the vent and then take the elevator down to the lobby after changing her disguise and once again dropping her backpack out a window just like at the party.

She hurried towards the vent, grabbing a disguise from her backpack and then tossing her backpack into the vent.

Whisper climbed in afterwards and pushed it towards the edge, contemplating for a moment whether or not she should just push her backpack down the ventilation shaft.

That's when she decided against it and just threw it over her shoulder with one arm.

Then she climbed about two more stories and found an untouched room, and pushed the vent out there.

Whisper quickly headed towards a window.

Looking out she spotted blue and red lights.

' Problem.' She thought, feeling the adrenaline rush take over.

Tossing her backpack out the window, she watched as it landed safely behind some bushes.

Whisper then turned and ran for the elevator.

Once she got on she pressed the basement button since it was the lowest possible floor, and ignored the crappy elevator music.

As soon as the doors opened she jumped out like and overheated poptart and hastily skipped steps in order to get to the outside.

She saw the police rushing into the building and let out a breath but then remember her backpack.

Scanning around to confirm that there wasn't an audience, she changed quickly into the disguise she had with her, and ran around the building as fast as she could.

She soon found it and hid behind a tree.

Her breathing was erratic and unsteady, but she was still able to get out of the area without being spotted by anyone.

With L

A note?

He had already found out that she was in the Kanto region during the morning before the theft.

He opened the note and read.

-Dear L-san, since you said that I shouldn't use the news people anymore I've had to change up my tactics to this primitive form of communication. It's rather boring, but I suppose it'll have to do for now. I must admit that the cameras you placed around that man's house were impressive (even if I was still able to escape). No round of Mouse Trap this time? Are you testing me or just watching me? Observing will not help you, L-san. Better luck next time.

P.S Thanks for the 68 grand tip.

This note, for some reason irritated L.

Just a little.

Maybe it was because there was no evidence of who had typed it.

They had thought of everything.

The note, the envelope…

Completely clean.

Though, he had to admit he was somewhat thankful that she had agreed to his request.

Where had she gone?

He knew that they had probably walked out the front door of the hotel just like the time she stole from that man during his birthday party.

He pondered this while adding unseemly amounts of sugar to his coffee.

Watari had placed a video tape on his desk and L turned to it.

He remembered him saying something about it being the footage of the doors to the hotel.

L blinked at the tape and sighed.

What could it hurt?

Maybe it would help.

He set everything up again, and pressed the play button.

For the next hour or so he sat on the couch and watched the video over and over again, watching for any possible leads.

None of the women looked suspicious.

This realization further irritated L.

He then started eating jelly doughnuts as he continued to watch the video over until he had every face memorized.

Then the whole video memorized.

L turned off the TV.

Even an experienced thief like Whisper would stick out in some way to a detective.

Detectives knew what to look for.

That's when he paused, his eyes still on the TV.

' It's possible she disguised herself as a man…but it doesn't fit, since all of the men here are registered to a room or are with women that are registered to one.' L considered, but it didn't feel right.

His eyes lingered to an elevator in the background and noticed the number of floors was off as he watched the lights at the top change.

' There's a underground floor.'

He quickly leapt over the back of the couch and sat up in his computer chair.

His fingers started typing faster than some would think possible until he found what he was looking for.

As the footage popped up, he smirked slightly.

On the screen, he saw Whisper, the one that had stolen from dozens of houses, running towards a staircase to ground level.

It soon faltered.

' But she reentered the vent…and where's her backpack?'

His eyes widened a fraction.

' Unless she climbed to a higher floor, got the backpack outside somehow…like throwing it out a window again…and then taking an elevator to the base floor.'

The task force came running in.

' You called us. Ryuuzaki?' Souchiro Yagami asked as they all got into the room and closer to the young male detective.

" Yes, is there any evidence from the crime scene? The test results should have come back by now." L inquired as he turned to them.

They all looked downcast.

L 's eyes passed over all of them and found that Light and Matsuda were missing.

" Does anyone know where Light and Matsuda are?"

They all looked around them.

" They were just with us." The senior Yagami claimed.

The others nodded in agreement.

L looked over his shoulder at the monitor that he had learned to keep turned off most of the time.

' Should I turn it on?' L contemplated.

His eyes moved back to the police officers in front of him.

L's face didn't show it but he was smirking slightly in his mind as he decided to do it.

He clicked on the monitor, and he watched as the people he momentarily had his back to, gaped at the screen.

" Well, that's an unexpected sight." L obviously lied, but with the way he usually had his voice, they couldn't tell.

L turned off the monitor screen to get rid of the X-rated images.

" Light and Matsuda seem to be relieving stress right now." L stated as he turned to them, and they all nodded.

" The only information I have on Whisper at the moment is that she was in the Kanto region during the morning before the crime." He told them, continuing to business as though watching Light and Matsuda desperately grope for one another in a frenzy was something that they all witnessed every day.

Unfortunately for L, that was almost true.

" It doesn't matter though, since Light's only useful quality to us here is his mind." L started." Other than were nearby. He is more of a likely problem rather than a help to our case. If Whisper had not hacked into the police's database in the first place then it would not be this way…I am sorry."

Meanwhile…

Matsuda smiled brightly at Light.

They were currently taking a breather from their latest arduous MO.

" Do you think the others suspect us?" He asked his boyfriend.

Light shook his head, although his mind was messing with him coming up with some of the faces and worst possible scenarios of his father finding out in some way shape or form.

" No way, Matsuda-kun. If they did do you think they'd be able to act so normally around us? Besides, how could they? They wouldn't even be able to picture you as a homosexual with how you act around women." Light assured. Placing a hand on the older man's head , and ruffling his hair slightly.

Matsuda blushed.

Light just chuckled and kissed Matsuda, making him blush even more.

" We've gone quite a bit farther than this, Matsu-kun. Does a kiss really still make you blush?" Light whispered darkly in the man's ear, and in turn Matsuda's face turned crimson.

It really was easy for Light to lead his mind astray from worries like getting found out.

Matsuda didn't say anything and so they just looked at each other and Light kissed him again, but this time more hungrily.

Matsuda got lost in it just like the beginning of their other make out sessions and kissed back just like his younger counterpart.

" Besides, who cares what the others think?" Light said more than asked." You're not embarrassed of me, are you?" He teased, and Matsuda shook his head and looked down.

" But I'm afraid that if they do find out that things between you and I are like this they'll respect me less than they already do." Matsuda said on the verge of crying, and Light knew he went too far and decided that he had to make him forget about his troubles.

One way or another…

Back with Whisper

" I'll tell you again, Nanayo. No more buying more than a few small treats a day. Your mother would kill me for letting you get so much."

Her eyes sparked with an idea and she leaned over the counter to get eye level with the little girl.

" Plus, I don't think you want your parents to give you less of an allowance, now, do you?"

The girl shook her head furiously.

Masumi smiled.

" Then don't you think it would be wiser to wait until you're older and can buy as many sweets as you want without your mother getting mad at you?" Whisper questioned, and Nanayo nodded again.

" That's what I thought." Masumi nodded, and watched as Nanayo ran out of the store with a smile on her face.

That's when she saw him again.

Watari wasn't with him like last time.

She smiled.

" Hello again, Ryuuga-san. How are you this morning?" She asked.

" Fine, I suppose." His eyes moved over to her.

" And you?"

" Safe and surrounded by sugary deliciousness…so pretty good." She replied with a smile.

" I've never seen blueberry pie in your shop before…is it new?" He asked and Masumi shook her head in a way that said 'sort of' as she ate some chocolate chips from a bag.

" Not quite, I just found it in the pantry last night. I was rummaging around last night for more cookie sheets and ingredients and found it along with a few other recipes." She told him.

" I see." He said, and went back to looking for more cakes and the sort.

Masumi didn't know why it was that she liked being around this man with a semmingly insatiable affinity for sweets, but she did.

Same went forr the feeling she got whenever he sent his ' I'm looking through you without trying' look her way.

It just felt like he knew something when he looked at her like that.

Which she knew she probably houldn't worry since he seemed to look at everyone that way, but still.

' I've become paranoid.' She berrated herself.

" Masumi-san." His voice took her from her thoughts.

" Uh...yes?" She responded after shaking her head to rid the paranoia she was thinking about earlier.

" Are you alright?" He asked, and the question seemed innocent enough.

" Oh...yeah, I was just thinking about something." She shrugged.

He had his thumb pressing against his lip again, and she concluded that it was indeed a habit of his.

" May I ask what you were thinking about?" He continued.

She smiled.

" I'm curious as to why you want to know." She surprised herself.

Was she flirting?

If she was he obviously didn't catch it, and she was relieved.

" It's just that, Masumi-san, curiosity."

She nodded.

" I was thinking about how lucky I was to have my shop near someone with such an addiction for sweets." She even smirked.

Lie.

" You seem to like them an awful lot yourself, Masumi-san." Ryuuga noted, and Masumi looked down at her chocolate chips.

" If I didn't, I don't think I'd be the only one working here to tell you the truth, Ryuuga-san. Also I probably would've sold this place and found some other job." She admitted.

" Speaking of which, that brings up another question. Why do you work here alone?" He seemed particularly curious about the answer to this question.

" I prefer it." She answered simply.

He cocked his head to the side slightly.

" This is the only reason?"

" The main reason." She smiled.

" Are my questions bothering you?"

" Not really." She shrugged.

He was starting to sound like an interrogator...ever so slightly.

" My observations say otherwise." He said, placing his chosen treats on the counter.

" You observe people often, don't you, Ryuuga-san?" She asked although it sounded a little more like a statement.

" All the time, actually." He admitted rather openly...almost boredly.

" And why is that?"

He smiled a little at her.

It was adorable.

" Curiosity." Was all Ryuuga said.

It was partly a lie, she noticed.

" That's not all, is it?" She inquired.

He paused and looked at her.

" You are quite observant on your own. It could make one suspicious of something when you ask things like that."

This seemed to tickle her risky side.

" Why would you say something like that?" masumi couldn't resist asking.

" Just something thought aloud." He lied again.

There was hidden meaning to his words.

Not only that, but she was becoming certain of one thing.

She would have to be careful around him.


	7. What are you Implying?

And Your Intentions?

One month later

" Why did they leave me such an enormous house?" She glared at the floor as she cleaned.

A routine of hers.

Once every month.

No matter what.

She would clean the whole house.

At least what mattered.

She found it calmed her.

Certain chores of it anyway.

She felt the rest could just go die in a toilet.

' If only they were human. If I didn't have my night hobby I could get a maid, but thanks to it I can actually afford one…'

She stopped.

She only cleaned once a month, meaning she could hire a once a month cleaning crew, right?

Didn't they have things like that in Japan?

' Of course they do. They have everything in Japan.' She scowled.

Then her mind moved to L…

Lately her thoughts have been on L and how he had started to drop by more often to help her out at the shop every once in awhile and just talk with her.

She didn't know why.

That fact bothered her.

Did he suspect she was the thief?

Was he a detective?

She could sort of see him with that kind of career.

With his dark eyes, seeming lack of sleep, carelessness of his style, and how unaware he was of things that didn't seem to matter.

Yet he was still calculated with everything.

Specific.

Every move deliberate.

Just like her.

That fact also bothered her.

She knew her own intelligence and its limit.

She didn't know his...

Was this guy smarter than her?

She didn't want to think about it.

Instead…she would figure up how to change up her next theft since she already had the house memorized.

Inside and out.

' Now what should I do? Black out? No, the lights are all off anyways...'

And then an idea hit her.

' I'll send him a morse code with thier eletricity system some time after I steal from them. Actually, I could do many things with this ' light signaling' thing.'

The one thing she didn't like about this is that this required hacking.

Lots and lots of haxoring ( if you know leet then u know this term...in this text it's easier to figure it out anyways but if you can't figure it out...it's hacking).

She sighed.

' Oh well, it's worth it.' She shrugged after almost an hour of thought.

At this point it was too late to go back anyways as she was already typing away in her disorderly way.

Dozens of clicks and clacks.

Her mind having memorized the keyboard.

No place for mistakes or she would be found out and traced back from the other end.

Or at least could be.

Whisper always was good at hiding herself from everyone around her.

No matter who she was.

Her cleaning being done with hours ago (since she had a tendency for over cleaning anyways).

She caught up with her breathing before she got ready to head out.

She got an adrenaline high before she even left her house.

Locking up, she took the subway to her destination.

She stopped a ways from the house, making sure she had the house in full view, but that anyone around would not be able to spot her.

Being as cautious as she could, she crept towards the house, and stopped at the back door, peering in curiously.

' Are you serious? I never saw anything about removable tinted windows anywhere...what kind of person has so much money that they get THIS bored?'

She shook it off since she didn't have the time for that.

The night only lasted so long.

' But I can't see any- oh, right night vision eyeglass.' She bopped herself on the head and scrutinized her mini-pack for her tools.

She put it up to one of her eyes, and looked around.

Red lines...

'...What the fuck? Really? Lasers?' She thought for a moment after just realizing it.

' Did they have this installed by hired hand too? Or did they put this in themselves?' She recalled all of their firewalls while she was hacking their system.

' At this point I'd believe either...damn, that was the most annoying security system I've ever faced.' She glared at the door while putting her eyeglass away for later usage, and instead taking out a spray can.

Spraying it in front of her, she jumped back realizing she almost ruined her own fun tonight.

' Shit, what are they hiding in there that's so valuable?' She wondered, looking around for cameras now.

She found one, and waved at it since they were obviously asleep.

' I just love smart people that are so paranoid they lock the place up like this...and then get to see what they did wrong!' She almost squee'd aloud.

With L

" Ryuuzaki-san! We've tapped into a security camera of a house in the Tokai region. The house belongs to a CEO by the name of Yoshida Morihiki." Matsuda ran towards the sugar addict yelling.

" I know, Matsuda-san, so please shut up. There is no need to be so loud." L said as he watched Whisper, who was in the act of entering the house.

" What company is his the owner of?" L asked as he didn't take his eyes off the screen.

" Nigoya's Firearms." Ukita replied.

For some reason, it was different from watching a video of her after she had commited the crime.

It seemed that this one seemed more...

Was intimate the word?

For some reason she felt closer.

_Right under their noses._

Masumi popped up into his head after that phrased passed through his mind.

' She seems to have become more wary of me since the first time we met. She is very perceptive of others...knows how to talk to them. This girl has that same quality, no doubt. Most thieves as successful as her do. Still, they could be the same person.'

" Aizawa-san, gather up all the records of the list of people that took a subway train from the Kanto region to the Tokai region. Only check the list and get the footage of the last time it ran before Whisper got to Mister Morihiki's house."

Aizawa nodded and went off.

" Matsuda-san, go with him. Help him out in any way you can. Listen to him. Bring them back as soon as you can." L told the rookie.

" Right." The young man said, and ran after Aizawa.

" Souchiro-san, Mogi-san, and Ukita-san...call the police force in Tokai and give the address of the house. Drive down there as fast as you can to scan the crime scene and bring back whatever you can. Any and all evidence."

Even though, so far, the only evidence they found of her presence there were these tapes ( which she didn't seem to care about, I mean, she waves at them), handwritten taunts on various surfaces of a few houses, and hairs from her wig.

" Your coffee, L-san." Watari said, placing it by the spiky haired man.

" Thank you, Watari." L said, pouring sugar into it.

' Isn't she at all worried about the fact that if he wakes up, more than likely having a gun nearby, that he might kill her if he finds her?'

Watching her acrobat her way through red lasers just to get throught the upstairs living room, he doubted it.

She stopped when she got to the other side.

She always did this once in every video he's seen of her thefts.

He noticed everytime that afterwards...she knew almost exactly where to look.

" As if she was the owner of the house herself." He muttered.

She looked around, and he could see her almost physically flinch at every small sound.

This camera system had audio.

L knew that they weren't going to catch her.

He had a feeling that there was something more to this one.

Something was there that they had missed.

He had missed.

' But what?' He asked himself.

His eyes followed her as she took something else out of her pocket.

' Is that a blacklight?' He asked himself, leaning slightly closer to the screen on the giant TV in front of him.

It was a blacklight, and she ignored the lights as she maneuvered it around the room.

' What is she doing with a blacklight?' Then he saw it, and his eyes widened.

He realized then the reason she was able to walk around someone else's house with that air about her.

' She researched the houses so much that she learned about the person that owns it. She brings all the necessary tools required for her task after she researches them. She learns how they think just by how they have their house set up and wired.' His revelation almost made him forget he had coffee right next to him.

Almost.

She actually found something with paint on it that would show up under blacklight and watched as she took out a knife and skillfully cut out a square.

She was so precise with her cutting.

One more thing he noticed about her.

The fact that she only did what she needed to, and hardly ever left that trail.

Whisper placed the square of the wall back into place after she had everything she needed from it, and saw her turn her head towards a familiar sound heading towards the house.

Sirens.

He was curious now.

And worried?

Like he didn't want to win just yet.

L was enjoying the game, even liked and admired how calculated she was.

They were similar in this way, and that was an advantage he would use later on.

He had never watched Masumi make cakes before, but he had a feeling that her movements would be similar to the ones of Whisper during her ' hobby'.

Take a drink from his coffee cup and munching on strawberry tarts, L wondered why he still felt as though there was more to this.

Even as she had found a way to escape them.

Just in time.

Not even bothering to dodge the red laser alarms on her way out through the back door.

An hour Later

L was just now opening up the evidence, when he saw on the camera ( the footage he still had his computer screen) something peculiar.

The lights of the house were flickering on and off in a questionable way.

' Now, what's this about?' He sweatdropped, and then when he watched the clip again after it had stopped, he recognized it as morse code.

_Sorry about that important video evidence of yours._

What was she referring to?

He was still able to go back and veiw the evidence of her in Morihiki's house.

Unless...she was tlaking about other video evidence.

He turned his head to the tape in his hand, and placed it in the VCR.

He couldn't believe it.

' She knew I would try checking this. She erased them somehow after she left her house.' He thought as he saw nothing but white noise.

He turned to the other evidence in his possession.

Saw the block she had cut only an hour ago and picked it up.

Turning it over he saw '驚き' written on it.

' Surprise.' He read.

She was playing with him.

He was enjoying their game because he finally found a worthy adversary.

Then he wondered if she was bored or lonely.

Or both.

Then he asked himself if it is was both which she was felt more of.

Boredom or Loneliness.

L then decided he would go to Masumi's shop tomorrow.

He was running low on sweets, anyway.

Plus he found he enjoyed her company.

That morning at about 8

He wondered how she found the time to make all of those cakes even in her freetime and managed to get enough sleep to the point where she was always so alert and cheerful in the morning.

Not that he minded.

It just made him incredibly curious.

He spotted her unlocking her shop door again, this time without a stack of boxes balanced in her opposite hand.

She placed a door stop at the bottom and walked back to her car.

" Masumi-san, good morning." L waved, and saw her head shoot up at the sound of her name.

" Good morning, Ryuuga-san." She smiled at him, and then stacked three boxes on top of eachother and picked them up.

He walked over the her and smiled slightly at her.

" Mind if I help you?" He asked.

" I never turn down help when it comes to a friend helping me with my store." She beamed at him before she disappeared into her shop.

' Friend.' He thought as he looked at her trunk and back seat filled with boxes of cakes and sweets of all sorts.

His first since the Kira case.

L helped her carry in boxes and even remembered where each one belonged in the shop.

" Thank you, Ryuuga-san." Masumi told him after they had finished setting the shop up.

" You made a lot more cakes last night."

" And this morning." She told him, and he looked at her, wide-eyed.

" You stayed up all night making these?" He asked her.

" Mhm." She replied as she looked around the shop, pondering something.

Images of Whisper standing silently in the middle of that room last night flashed through his head.

" Masumi-san, are you an insomniac?" L asked her.

" Yeah, sometimes." Was her absentminded response.

" What are you thinking about?" He inquired, and she turned to him.

" Do you think I should place a few tables with umbrealls outside of this shop for some of the customers that want to snack outside? You see, I have been doing very well lately with my business thanks to you, and it seems I also have enough room for them outside without breaking the flow of human traffic. I would like your opinion." She said.

She wasn't lying.

He looked around.

" It could attract more customers." He said and looked at the expression on her face.

It was an unreadabl smile.

" I always try to guess the customers taste in food and make treats that they would like." She explained with a smile.

He remember the cakes and numerous other sweet treats he's bought from this shop.

L realized that after he met her that she had started making certain desserts even sweeter.

" You observe the customers preferences and then make treats that would appeals to them." He muttered as he looked around the shop.

Remembering that she usually requested certain sweets to people that came there a second time.

" I guess their preference and make the sweets."

So, _that's_ how she had been able to make cakes and the sort for him with just the right amount of sweetness and strawberries.

" Watari mentioned that you liked strawberries, and since you are my top buyer here. Most of the products here are strawberry type ones. Have I been putting the right amount of strawberries in them?" She questioned.

" Yes, you have quite the talent of observation." He noted.

She jumped up as if remembering something.

Masumi did that often.

" Oh, that's right. I have a new recipe and I would like for you to be the first to try it." She declared excitedly as she fast walked into the back room.

L followed her casually.

He walked in to see her take a container of something cake-like out of the fridge.

' A cheesecake?' He catechized.

It looked absolutely delicious with its double shaded brown swirls and chocolate chips sprinkled lightly on top.

She cut a peice for him, and placed the plate in front of him.

" It's a hocolate caramel swirl cheesecake. Have you ever had it before?" She asked him sweetly.

A memory from the orphanage floated back.

" Watari once made it for me." He uttered.

" I see." She caught on to the fact that it was a fond childhood memory of his.

He knew she did.

L took a bite from it and stopped.

" This is an equal blend. Delicious." L stated with the slightest of smiles.

Masumi blushed slightly at this, but his eyes caught it.

The next question that appeared in his mind was if she was aware of her looks.

So, being how he was, he decided to ask her.

Directly.

" Masumi-san, are you aware of how cute you are?" He queried, and she blinked in surprise at this.

" Um...what?" She asked back.

Apparently, she wasn't expecting this sort of question.

" I've noticed while helping out here that a lot of the male employees like to watch you and talk to you." He started.

" Well, I do work here. Many people talk to me. Of both genders. I don't think it means that they think I'm attractive."

She was usually too caught up in her work to notice.

He actually liked knowing this.

It meant that she probably didn't have someone that she liked.

It also meant that she talked to him the most out of all the other men in her day.

The fact that he liked this knowledge worried him slightly.

" So your answer to my first question is no then." He stated, and she seemed slightly uncomfortable.

" I've never really cared about that sort of thing." She admitted.

L wondered why, but did not ask.

" How old are you, Masumi-san?" He found that he didn't know this.

He would have to look at her file to find out more about her.

" 20." She answered easily, not seeming to care about the question.

" Masumi-san, you are very work oriented, aren't you?" L smiled, and she smiled and nodded.

" Yes, I have many memories here." She replied.

She didn't care about relationships but work was everything to her.

" You are very cute." He said before finishing off his peice of cheesecake.

" Um...thank you."

There seemed there was a slight difference between Whisper and Masumi.

Whisper is always one step ahead of him while Masumi seems to have been surprised by his blunt compliment and questions.


	8. Suspicions and Cookie Dough Fits Part 1

Suspicions and Cookie Dough Fits

Masumi's POV

'What was that about? That stuff about my looks.' She thought, and was ( for once) distracted almost completely by that one thought.

She had a feeling he was L now.

Or at least a detective.

She was sure he was a detective.

Masumi was confused. She had never met anyone so straight-forward in her life. Let a lone one so interesting and fun to talk to.

' Which is it? One or both?' She huffed as she continued decorating one of the cakes she had finished making that morning.

Ryuuga was still there, of course, but he was out in the shop part of the building, helping customers as he himself picked out things he was going to take home with him.

She stopped in her tracks and thoughts when she realized she hardly knew anything about the man that seemed to enjoy helping out at her store when he wasn't busy with work.

' Is Ryuuga Hideki even his real name?'

She doubted this, and then felt kinda stupid when she thought of how she should have thought of this before.

Instead she had overlooked it without a second thought.

Aside from his 'name' she didn't know his age, his birthday, or any of those other simple things that people that have known each other for around 2 months or so would normally know about eachother.

Save for his 'father figure' relationship with Watari and what he liked when it came to sweets.

With how fast he seemed to go through them, she wouldn't be surprised if sugary things were all he ate.

She considered this knowledge of him.

He liked anything sweet...especially strawberries.

This told her a bit about his personality.

Masumi already knew of how polite/kind, intelligent, and observant he was...plus, she had also recently learned he was blunt and thought she was cute.

Her disguise anyways.

She heard him clicking away at the cash registers buttons as though it was a calculator.

' That's right. He's a stay at home worker.' She remembered him telling her this, if only breifly.

As though he didn't want to get too into the topic.

She shook her head, and went back to making the words ' Happy Birthday' on the cake she had nearly forgotten about.

He had a childish nature about him, which was obvious to her by the sweetness of the treats he constantly indulged himself in.

After moments of thought she came to the conclusion of what his sweet addiction said about him.

' He keeps the moments he considers precious very close to him, he's relaxed, and he's very loyal. These are some of his more hidden but main qualities as he likes to eat them in excess.' She thought, remembering her mother explain to her the more symbolic side of things when she was a child.

' I need to gain the upper hand in our friendship. How come I can only think ahead of others when I need to?' She asked herself, pouting visibly.

" Is something wrong, Masumi-san?"

Masumi jumped at Ryuuga's words and turned to see him in the doorway, standing there with his head cocked to the side a bit.

" No. Everything's fine, Ryuuga-san." She replied.

" Just thinking again?" He asked.

" Yeah." Then she got an idea.

" Hey, Ryuuga-san?" Masumi asked as he was walking the other way.

" Yes?" He answered, looking at her over his shoulder.

" Would you like to take a coffee break with me? My treat." She said.

Ryuuga blinked, and thought for a moment.

" Alright." Was his response.

She smiled, and wondered why she was so happy that he agreed.

After the last customers for the time left, she locked up.

" Where are we going?" He asked her.

" A nearby coffee shop. I think you'll like it." She beamed as they made their way towards it.

" Why did you invite me along for your coffee break?" He asked her, his large eyes peering through her.

" Honestly, Ryuuga-san, it is because I wanted to play a little game with you."

" What sort of game?" He wondered.

" It goes like this. I ask you a question, you answer it to the best of your ability, then you, in turn, ask me one. If you choose not to answer a question then that allows me to avoid answering one as well. And vice-versa." She explained.

Before they could start their game a waiter interrupted them.

So, to get rid of him, they both ordered something, and waited until he walked away again.

" Okay, so you want to play?" She asked, and she watched his expression.

Something flashed through it and she remembered how she had sent a similar message to L.

He just nodded.

" When's your birthday?" She asked.

" October 31st. Halloween." Ryuuga stated and she caught the slight upward quirk of one corner of his mouth.

' Must be his favorite day.' She smiled.

" What are your hobbies aside from making sweets?" He asked her.

" Shopping for the ingredients, reading, and meditating." Masumi replied.

" I could have never guessed that last one." He admitted curiously.

" How old are you? Since you already asked me this question before." She smirked.

She always had fun playing this game, and she didn't play it often.

" I'm 25." He answered.

The waiter came back and placed coffee in front of both of them and a plate of small cakes in the middle of the table.

" Have you heard of the Kira case? If so, what do you think of him?" Ryuuga asked, and she looked at him.

This was the type of question she was looking for.

" Yes, I have heard of the Kira case. To me, Kira was a stupid child playing God. I think it's a good thing that L didn't kill him, though, and instead made him go to jail. If he had killed him…L wouldn't have been any better than Kira." Was her answer.

He stared at her, seeming passive.

" What are hobbies of yours? And what kind of stay at home work do you do?"

" I solve problem that interest me. As for that last question it is one I cannot answer." He replied, watching her.

" When is your birthday?"

" January 13th." She said before taking a bite from a lemon cake.

Her personal favorite flavor for sweets.

" Do you eat anything other than sweets?" She catechized with honest curiosity.

" No. I think we should go back to your shop now." He told her.

" Yeah," She sighed." people might start to wonder where I went." She laughed as she asked herself how she could've let the time pass by like that.

While they walked back Ryuuga asked her if they could stay at her shop the next time they had a break.

" Didn't you like the coffee shop?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.

" Yes, but I like your treats more. It seems I have become accustomed to your baking." He confessed, and she smiled.

" That means a lot coming from you, Ryuuga-san."

" Oh? Why?"

" Because you're my most frequent consumer. If I can get you addicted to what I make then I feel safe knowing that I'll be the main or only seller to my other customers." She smiled.

" You are easy to make happy, aren't you, Masumi-san?" Ryuuga asked her, peering at her with softer eyes.

" I guess I am." She smiled with a slight embarrassed blush.

" There's nothing wrong with it," He sense, reading her uncomfortable body language." If you ask me it's..." Ryuuga thought about the correct word.

" It's quite a pleasant quality to have." Masumi looked at him out of her peripheral vision.

Ryuuga seemed to be staring off into space about something.

" Ryuuga-san?" She said questioningly to snap him out of his reverie.

He snapped his head in her direction.

" I'm sorry. Did you say something?" This made her giggle, which made him slightly confused.

" It's just how you said it." She giggled.

" Oh."

" Masumi-san?" He started and she heard something in his voice that she couldn't decode.

" Is something wrong?" Masumi began to worry and she didn't know what she was worried about because when it came to Ryuuga Hideki ( as he called himself)…she had many things to worry about.

"I was just wondering if you were working tomorrow." The man with dark eyes ringed with lack of sleep replied, and she nodded.

"Why do you ask?"

He was staring at her again, something he did when he was thinking deeply.

A habit that made her feel uncomfortable.

Since usually when he was thinking like that he stared ahead.

She was right in front of him.

Masumi almost felt as if he secretly knew that she was Whisper.

That he knew her natural hair and eye color.

Or the fact that her skin was naturally pale because she was albino.

Thankfully, before she said anything stupid he answered.

" I would like to work with you when I'm not working online…that is, if it is alright with you." He explained, and her gut was telling her that he would be doing more than just help her out around the shop and so such.

He would be basically keeping an eye on her.

If he was L or a detective.

He would be watching for anything suspicious.

She smiled.

He was good at what he did.

" I would appreciate that very much. Do you think it is possible for you to come over sometimes to help me get the cakes into my car?" Masumi requested, knowing that if her gut was correct that this would make her less likely the suspect.

That was just her idea, though.

She couldn't help thinking that he knew her better than she knew him.

This only irritated her.

She looked at him, and saw that he seemed a bit surprised.

" I'm sure I could do that from time to time." He agreed.

" That would be great. How about I show you where I live right now? I still have a few things that didn't fit into the car there." Masumi explained.

"How do you manage to make so many cakes in one night?" Ryuuga asked her.

She stopped and pictured her kitchen…

Completely clean and the only proof of her efforts in boxes or sitting on the counter in transparent containers.

" You'll see…" Her eyes widened." Oh shit." She muttered.

" What is it?" Ryuuga said.

" What's today?" She asked, knowing fully well, but wanting him to think it through so that he might realize the severity of her situation.

" The 12th of Febuary, I think…isn't Valentine's Day after tomorrow?" He sounded completely clueless, and she sweatdropped.

" Yes, and I own a shop that sells all sorts of sweets…" Then she got a smile on her face.

" Hey, Ryuuga-san?" Man with said name looked at her unaware of her intent.

" Do you know how to cook?" He shook his head.

" No, Watari usually makes my snacks." She dropped her head to the side.

" Would you like assistance in making these snacks within the next couple of days?"

As against it as Masumi was she had to remember how she had almost ran out last year.

This year she might not be so lucky.

" I would love it if you could help me out." She beamed brightly.

He nodded.

" We are going the right way to your house, are we not?"


	9. Suspicions and Cookie Dough Fits Part 2

Suspicions and Cookie Dough Fits

Part 2

Conclusions

With L

" Here we are." Masumi smiled as she opened the door.

She had definitely come from a wealthy family background as he had.

" You have a nice house, Masumi-san. This is the one your parents gave you?" L asked.

" My one and only home." She said softly as she looked around with love in her eyes.

He followed her into the kitchen and saw the boxes that she had left there. They were stacked on her table, and counters.

There had to be around 30.

At LEAST.

" There are sweets in everyone of these boxes?" The detective asked, and she nodded.

" Yup. My mother taught me how to make many sweets at once and having all of them turn out like the ones you've eaten."

" Have you ever wondered why you are unable to sleep at night, Masumi-san?"

This was an odd question, he guessed, but she didn't seem to mind as she actually pondered it.

" To tell you the truth, Ryuuga-san, I know the reason." She sighed and offered him a quick smile.

" It's something caused by anxiety."

" Being anxious is not good for your health." Ryuuga said as he picked up a stack of three boxes.

They weren't heavy at all, but he knew that if he carried any more at once that the stack would become unstable and out of his control.

" Yes, but I never want to miss anything and I never want to be late, and to me a lot of the time… sleeping is boring." She admitted.

' One who never sleeps could easily be Whisper…' he looked around her kitchen again ant thought about how this morning she had even more than what she left at her house.

' Especially if she is this efficient with everything in her life. Masumi could be living a double life.'

" Not to pry, but when did your parents die, Masumi-san?" L asked her, and she looked at her calendar.

" About 3 or four years ago." Was her reply.

' I doubt she would be dumb enough to start after her parents died. Maybe over time it became harder for her to distract herself from the fact that her parents died. Whisper has been going on with her thefts for almost a year and a half now.'

Then he stopped, his eyes widening a portion.

' Or maybe she was waiting for me to stop chasing after Kira.'

" That's all of them, Ryuuga-san. Let's go back to the shop." She said before getting into the car.

L got in next to her and wondered.

' If Masumi was Whisper… could she possibly have any idea that he was L?'

He glanced over at her, noticing the distant look in her eyes even though she seemed to be paying attention to the road.

Another thing he noticed… was…

" Masumi-san, do you wear contacts?"

" Mhm. My vision isn't so good. I've been wearing them since I was little." She replied, with her eyes still on the road.

How could he not have noticed it before. He was a keen observer.

Yet he just now was able to make out the little clear ring around her eyes that were barely visible to most people unless they paid close attention to it.

L usually was able to point out these things from a first glance.

' Must have been the distraction of being surrounded by all of those cakes.' He rationalized.

Since he had the chance to, he scrutinized Masumi Kozakura, and remembered that he was going to check her file once again for anything that might help him figure out if she was a suspect or not.

He caught the slight darkness under her eyes… proof of sleep deprivation. His mind started coming up with questions that were irrelevant like…

What were her parents like?

Was she close to them like she seemed to have been?

How come she was so work-oriented when she could distract herself with dating?

She came from a wealthy family, she cleaned, she cooked, she was smart, and also beautiful. She was pretty much the very image of what the perfect wife was like in Japan.

Girls like her are usually already married by this time.

This time he kept his questions to himself, deciding he would use them for later use.

When his mind went back to the contacts, he thought of Whisper.

' She wears a disguise no matter where she goes.' He thought.' It just fits the type of person she is.'

*An hour Later*

L had long since gotten home and was looking over Masumi's files.

' Let's see… graduated from culinary school in the top three of her class… minored in psychology… part timed at preschools and mental illness hospitals during jr. high. And she's taking over her parents line of work…'

That's when he remembered that Kira had been the one that killed her parents.

From the last time he had looked into her profile.

" They died in front of her." He said under his breath to himself as he read on.

" Ryuuzaki-san?" Mogi asked him.

L had nearly forgotten that the Task Force was still there. Having been there when he got back.

" Hm?" Was the only response L gave, not even turning in his direction to acknowledge him, but this was a common thing for L to do.

Everyone on the task force was used to it by now.

He was even sure that Matsuda and Light preferred not to be stared at so closely since they still have the fear that L and the others knew something.

Matsuda was the most obvious, like usual since he was the worst liar of the entire force, while Light was better at it, but L was still able to see through it.

He had to be able to do that, otherwise, he wouldn't have caught him and sent him to prison.

As he continued reading he read some comments from her teachers like…

_Did well in class but always seemed distracted._

_Did well on her own, but never really cared to work with others._

_Isolated herself from the class, didn't seem to care for making friends, just staying on good terms with them._

_Never seemed to care about pursuing any long term relationships with anyone._

That sort of thing.

What L got from that was that Masumi wanted a distraction and that people oftentimes weren't enough.

That she did well in culinary class because it reminded her of her family and that she didn't want to get close to others out of fear.

Fear of what, though?

This question had quite a few possible reasons, but the one that fit best was…

' Fear of not being accepted by others.'

When he realized he wasn't thinking of how now it could be ' fear of getting found out' he scolded himself.

She was becoming a distraction, L knew.

Masumi made questions that had nothing to do with the case pop into his head.

She made him think about things that weren't related to cases.

This was a problem for the detective, and so he took up another, smaller case on the side, so that it might help him to rid himself of thoughts and questions that would haunt most men when it came to a girl like Masumi.

L wasn't supposed to think like those men.

It was thanks to that fact that he always was able to solve all the cases he chose.

So he spent that night solving a murder case in the Kanto region, and easily found and then typed up the things that would lead the police to this man.

Then he sent them the information.

Meaning now he had no other choice but to continue pondering this thief case.

No choice but to think about Whisper and Masumi.

He had to be right about them being the same person.

L was always right. There was proof to back up that fact too.

The Kira case, for example. He had been right about pretty much everything when it came to that case that lasted him so many years of his life.

*Masumi*

There she was, on her computer, without her wig, which was rare for her.

Masumi's long white hair reached her mid-back, her pinkish eyes scanned over the screen without the cover of her contacts that she usually wore.

She was checking for a Ryuuga Hideki that wasn't famous and found nothing.

This didn't help what was going through her head.

She had felt him observing her on their way back to the shop.

Felt his eyes stare through her like an open window.

It worried her how easily he seemed to do that.

She wondered if he knew because by now it made the most sense that he was L.

He lacked sleep, didn't care for what he wore, and had a thing for staring at people.

Or observing them… whichever worked best.

Didn't seem to know much about manners when it came to people.

Ryuuga wasn't much of a people person.

These things pointed to someone who used the logical side of their brain.

The very description of a devoted detective.

She needed to bake more cakes tonight and tomorrow morning.

Along with chocolates of every kind, other sweets, and candies.

Then she needed to wrap them in cute types of wrapping perfect for Valentine's Day.

She found it amusing that it seemed to work in her favor… having to work so hard when she needed a good distraction the most.

She didn't seem to like that L and Ryuuga were one and the same.

That meant that she and Ryuuga were enemies and that her gut had been right.

Out of all the times she had been right in her life.

This was one of the times when she actually wished to be wrong.

* The following morning*

Masumi was still up making cakes and chocolate.

Mostly chocolate, though.

The albino girl didn't know why, but she found that she didn't like making chocolate as much as other sweet things.

It actually seemed that she preferred eating chocolate to making it.

All across her kitchen were boxes of chocolate of all sorts.

From white to dark, cream filled to solids, and assorted. Shaped like turtles and shells and all sorts of other shapes.

There was a knock on her door, and Masumi called over her shoulder for them to come in.

She was expecting them anyways and was already in her disguise.

Thier footsteps were heard and when they stopped she could practically feel their dinner plate sized gazes.

" Yeah, I stayed up all night again working on all these." Masumi told them, even though they didn't ask, while she filled a chocolate truffle.

She was waiting for more chocolate to be made, so she made the best of her time.

" You have quite the system going for you." Watari commented.

" It's what my mother taught me." Masumi smiled.

Ryuuga walked over to her and reached for a truffle, but before he could take one, Masumi slapped his hand away.

" You have sweets at home." She scolded lightly, shaking the bag of filling at him.

" Yes, but I'm hungry and I'm not at home." He retorted, and I pointed to one of the clearer counters.

" I made some ohagi for you. You may eat that." She told him, and he looked at me.

" How did you know I liked ohagi, Masumi-san?" Ryuuga questioned already starting to eat it

" You like anything sweet." Masumi answered him with a smile.

He just nodded, seeming to be appeased with this answer... not to mention the ohagi (a springtime treat made with sweet rice and sweet azuki (red bean) paste. They are made by soaking sweet rice for approximately six hours. The rice is then cooked, and a thick azuki paste is hand-packed around pre-formed balls of rice) that he was already scarfing down.

Quite loudly too.

" How may I help, Masumi-san?" Watari asked.

" Take those out of the oven, and put the batch that's right next to it in. You know for how long right?" She asked, without looking at him as she moved on the decorating a cake.

" Yes, no problem there." He chuckled.

" Good then." She nodded.

" Why do you like doing this so much? You are appear to be quite busy." Ryuuga asked with his mouth full of ohagi.

When Masumi actually took the time to look over her shoulder at him, she saw him stacking her sugar cubes with one hand and eating ohagi with the other.

" If you want coffee I have a batch set up for us, Ryuuga-san." She giggled.

She could feel him staring at her, but it wasn't her fault she had basically blurted out her accurate translation of his behavior.

" My answer to your question, Ryuuga-san, is that during this time I can focus on many things at once successfully because I am so comfortable when it comes to my skills with making sweets. It's easier for me to read people and talk to them because I am comfortable with what I'm doing." She hoped her explanation made sense to her new friend.

Then she stopped and looked over at him.

Something was different in the way that he looked at her...as though he knew something she didn't know.

Safe to say it bothered her, but thankfully she was so comfortable with her surroundings that it didn't show on her face.

Listing her 2 top worries at the moment was easy:

1. Ryuuga was L

2. L knew she was Whisper

She wasn't just worried about it but she KNEW it was true.

The look in L's eyes read triumph no matter how you looked at him.


	10. This had Better be Interesting

This had Better be Interesting

Good thing she was ready for it.

" Masumi-san... did you know that there was a break-in last night?"

She was expecting words like that, but she was still a little torn.

Why? Kept going on through her head. Out of all those other times she hated being right, she believed that this was the worst of all of them.

'Why is it that everytime I meet someone I either don't like them or I do and they end up being people after me? Tracking me down?' Though she did acknowledge the fact that if she wasn't so easily bored that things like this never would've happened anyway.

She wanted to hit herself.

Masumi hated people. Which is why she usually worked alone.

Day and night.

" If you mean on the news. Then yes." She said, having watched the exact theft she had commited last night on TV.

It was a stress reliever.

" You were home?" He asked not seeming convinced, and she nodded.

" That's right, Mister Detective. My friend, Emiko came over and helped me out here a little."

" How is it you never told me of Emiko?" L sounded like a totally different person when he started interrogating her.

If he wasn't a detective, she would think he was jealous of anyone else spending time with her.

She doubted it with a scoff. He was a detective for crying out loud.

Masumi turned around swiftly to face him as she spoke to him, looking him in the eye.

" Emiko is shy and hardly has any friends or time to hang out with other people. I didn't want anyone else distracting her from her work anymore than I do when I ask her to help me out here every once in a blue moon. You can call her if you don't believe me. I can't believe you didn't notice her number on my refrigerator door...since you're always so keen on reading people." She fumed slightly.

" You usually have too many sweets here for me to really concentrate on anything else." He reasoned simply as he picked the note from her frig delicately holding it in his fingers like she had seen him do many times before with other things.

" The first one is her work number and the second one is her home number. Your best bet is her work." The albino girl held in the rest of her rage. She had more important things to do. That was the reason she should be fuming. That doesn't mean it was the reason she was fuming.

That and she had the right to feel a little betrayed, didn't she?

A thief feeling betrayal… wasn't that a funny thought.

" What time were you and Emiko here? Surely she didn't stay long." L inquired.

" We're colleagues and good friends since high school. She was here from 9 at night til 2 in the morning. I already told you that I keep her from work too much." She continued to explain.

Emiko just owed her a few favors in reality.

So, her alias was right there.

" She can confirm this?"

Masumi smiled at him.

" Do I really look like the type that could think up plans to steal from somebody with all the work I have to do? Especially right now?" She inquired back and wondered the same. Then she stopped.

Was he seriously interrogating her while eating ohagi that _she_ made for _him?_

_" _That's the only reason why you never told me about her?" He replied, and she was starting to sense slight jealousy in his words.

He _was _questioning her… _while eating something._

She wanted to smack him.

" Why didn't you ask me here to help you? You would not have been bothering me." He catechized then. Something else in his words when he said this.

Masumi stopped when she heard it then.

He was jealous?

Of her 'friend'?

" I haven't seen her in awhile and I knew you would be here today." She said, her voice softer now.

She remembered how childish he was.

With L

He knew she had caught him now. With the way she was looking at him. The way she was looking at him. She knew he was jealous of this Emiko girl that had helped her last night.

L didn't like the fact that he was jealous of a girl he had never met. Let alone because of a person; a girl.

Her eyes were looking at him so softly now.

He had been worried before when her voice sounded angered. Even started thinking she would run across the room and strangle him. Misa had been like this too. L knew that women were crazy, but Masumi was on a whole other level.

L also knew that no one was fond of being questioned like a criminal. He felt uncomfortable, though.

Jealousy wasn't an emotion he felt very often.

He was still going to use the phone and call her anyways in order to check her alibi or better yet go to her house.

L looked at her with his perceptive eyes, and noticed by some facial clues that she was upset about something. Almost as though she was sad or hurt because of something he said. Though this was believably because he was supposed to be her friend and he just ended up turning on her.

" I'm very sorry for accusing you, but if Emiko-san is unable to back-up your alibi then you will be arrested." He told her, and she nodded.

' Emiko could be an accomplice…no…Whisper works alone. It's easier for her that way. Maybe a favor or payoff.' Lawliet thought as he watched her reaction. She just shrugged. Almost as if she was used to it. The hurt look was the thing that bugged him the most. Since he had a feeling that she was used to being disappointed by people as well.

Watari stayed and kept an eye on/helped Masumi while L went to Emiko's house through her number.

He hadn't called her, so he would be surprising her.

L found her at home, when he rang her doorbell, she was tired, and yet, at the same time, her shyness showed through.

" Hello?" She asked softly, and he saw how she seemed to have trouble looking at him. He reasoned this to either be the shy side of her or guilt.

" Good morning, I'm sorry to bother you, but I would like to speak with you regarding an incident that happened last night. I work with the police. Are you Emiko?" L started almost automatically, showing her a fake badge.

Emiko nodded but stayed hidden mostly behind the door as if she was ready to close it at any point and time. He was curious when he got the sudden thought that she might be slightly agoraphobic.

" What happened last night?"

" First could you tell me where you were?" Lawliet asked, pressing his thumb again his lips.

" I was with a friend, Kozakura Masumi. We were making and decorating cakes at her house last night." Emiko answered in a nearly inaudible tone.

" At what time?"

He watched her think it over and then check her watch quickly.

" I don't know. About 9 or 10 til early in the morning. I lose track of time when I'm talking with her. We're good old friends." She said, smiling slightly. Then she sighed.

' I'm sorry, sir, but if that is all the information you need, I must ask you to leave. I don't mean to be rude but I have work soon and I'm not ready yet."

L made a face, and looked around him after she closed the door.

' I was wrong?' He didn't like this question and so figured he'd find a way to find out if she was Whisper another way.

An hour later with Masumi

Masumi was staring at him bug-eyed. The reason was because ' Ryuuga' had just asked her to work with him.

" What?" She finally asked when she was able to talk again.

" Over the time I've known you, I've noticed certain things that would help me greatly with the cases I have assigned to myself… your perceptiveness and improvisational skills mostly. Though, your cooking is the best I've had in awhile… but I'd only be considering that as an additional bonus to your assistance."

" What about my job? I'm not letting go of this business if I decide to help you." She frowned slightly at the thought of having to shut down her business.

" M-"

" Wait a second…" Masumi stopped and seemed to have been hit with some sort of realization.

" Did you just visit Emiko, get my alibi, and come up with the idea to have me help you since I wasn't Whisper? " She scrutinized with her eyes narrowed.

" I still think you're Whisper. I just don't have the proof. Even if you are Whisper it doesn't matter." L said calmly, and this obviously threw Masumi off.

" You mean that you'd overlook everything Whisper did if I were her and chose to work with you?" The young woman said with her voice filled with shock.

L just nodded.

" I believe that is what I said."

" I'd still be able to keep my dessert/cake business open if I worked with you?" She asked suspiciously, and he nodded again.

At this notion, Masumi thought it over.

" Why would you allow Whisper to go?"

" I never said I would allow her to go free." He contradicted easily.

" What do you mean?"

" She'd work with me and be able to continue her dessert shop, but she would have no choice but to work with me for as long as I say whenever I say."

Masumi was starting to become less and less worried about L finding out she was Whisper.

" What?"

" She'd have the choice of either prison or something that is a distraction, interesting, productive, and legal." He replied, and she noted that he didn't once directly claim he was suspecting her even though his description of things made what he meant obvious. He knew it was her.

" So, you really are L?" She said with a sigh and a shake of her head.

" I am." He admitted.

" Game over, huh?" She smiled lightly, and saw him give her a look that told her he caught the meaning of her words.

" Not quite." L murmured.

This caught her interest.

" What do you mean?" Masumi inquired with ever growing curiosity.

" What I mean, Masumi-chan, is that you can play more ' games' as you call them. The only difference is that you'd be on my side. The side opposite of what you usually play. You would be a very useful member of my team if you decide to join." Lawliet explained, and she froze. Her eyes almost bugging again.

Then again, when she really thought about it… they would make the ideal team, considering she had the mind of a criminal.

" Do you have any other criminals on your team?" She questioned, and he shrugged a bit.

" Light Yagami." He muttered as he walked passed her. Almost as though he had already gotten a positive answer from her.

" He will still be on your team? Even after you've basically already won this game?" Masumi was confused.

" There are plenty more games after this one that may be just as interesting and just as difficult to crack. If Yagami proves to not be as useful as he should… then I will have him sent back to prison. I can have him sent back at any time." His grey blue eyes seemed to smile at her when he said this.

" I don't remember agreeing to join your team. I don't know why you seem to be so confident about this."

" Your questions are becoming less suspicious and more curious about the team."

" Well, fine. I guess I'll join then." She shrugged with a half-hearted grin.

" Watari is already packing your things, but before we go… I have one more question."

" I don't know why you're asking questions now, seeing as you seem to know everything." Masumi sarcastically mentioned even though she was smiling.

"Where's the money you stole?" He asked, and the smile stayed on her face. The pretty grin on her face could have even widened at this question.

This might actually be fun.

Back with L

We walked through the door and the usually rather stoic L seemed frustrated about something.

Everyone in the room noticed. Especially the smiling girl with a habit of wearing disguises that walked in not far after him.

L did not question her silent decision to stay in disguise and deduced that it gave her comfort. Right now, though, all he wanted was a piece of pineapple upside down cake.

The mere thought of her refusal to tell him where the money was along with her easy permission to check the house unnerved him.

" Who's that?" Light asked, observing her cautiously.

" My new pastry chef." L muttered, and Masumi snorted at the simply thought up answer.

" Why is she here?" Matsuda questioned after him, and L held back telling him why the other task force members were seemingly avoiding him and his lover (even though he knew that Matsuda and Light did not yet know their secret was no secret).

" I'm a live-in worker." Masumi answered for him, and he wondered if she could tell. If she could then she wasn't showing it. He was aware of her every move (this included facial movements). L had to be aware of all of this because he had been testing her since she walked into the room.

He could see she was hiding something from them. He saw that Light could too, considering how suspicious he was, even though he tried to hide it.

' She's uncomfortable around Light.' He noted when she walked around him even though she answered his question.

' He is a murderer that should be in prison, though.' L considered.

He saw her stop suddenly.

" I can't believe I forgot." Masumi gaped, eyes wide.

" What?" The frequently clueless detective asked.

" We're supposed to be at my shop. I'm supposed to be working today. I was already at my shop and I think Nanayo said she was going to stop by today." Masumi's head fell.

" Watari, can you drive me there?" L made his annoyed face when he heard her ask his assistant this question.  
" Masumi-san, you just got here." The elderly man reasoned.

" I know, but I just remembered the reason I stayed up all night making cakes and other desserts." She stated simply.

Women often times scared L with their unpredictable mood changes. He knew that going from near depressed to calm wasn't normal.

He sighed and shook his head.

" We'll stop by Masumi-chan's shop and wait there for half an hour until Nanayo shows up." Lawliet decided and saw the younger girl's face light up. She had such a beautiful smile when she wasn't faking one. She did that often. The only way he could tell that was he had known her for long enough.

To almost anyone else there was no difference.

He shook himself from his thoughts in time to see Masumi walking towards the door with Watari, chatting animatedly with Matsuda.

L considered how long it would take for a professional moving crew to move things from Masumi's house to the building he now owned.

They waved good bye to the others, saying they wouldn't be long and disappeared into the limo.

" I'm sorry for the inconvenience but Nanayo is like a little sister to me and I can't give up a chance to see her… let alone sell her some sweets." The woman laughed.

" The girl from your shop. The other regular." He stated ignoring telling her that there was no inconvenience , and she nodded.

" You're either zoning out or you have questions for me."

" I'm sorry, Masumi-san, for staring. I do have questions for you, though. Like how you were able to find the exact location of the safe's in all the places you were in."

" Experience." She muttered.

" How long have you been a thief?"

" How long have you been a liar?" She retorted.

" What are you talking about?" He had an idea about what she meant, though.

" It doesn't take a genius to figure that out."

" You're saying that you've been a thief all your life?" He inquired, and she just shrugged.

" Pretty much."

" Why wasn't I notified sooner and why weren't you caught sooner?" L asked, and she smiled at him once again.

" Simple. After awhile you learn to have it almost perfected and I didn't started stealing 'things' from people until about a year or so ago. You could say it ran in the family." She grinned, and he stopped.

" Your parents were thieves?" This was actually unexpected to the detective that had years of experience in all sorts of cases.

" Yes and their only mistake with the career of one was that they didn't stop when Kira came into the picture. Only one of my parents was really a thief. Both were killed by Kira anyways. That guy that was sitting by Matsuda is Kira, isn't he?" The thief stated more than asked with an angered air about her.

" Light Yagami WAS Kira." She snorted at my words and shook her head.

" Once a murderer always a murderer. They have this look that seperates them from the rest of civilization... the look of a killer." Masumi seemed to be zoning out, but then she snapped out of it.

" Like it is with me and and other thieves. We can usually spot others like us just by looking at them or talking to them for awhile." Masumi filled in as she played with her hair, that was more than likely a wig. He wondered for a moment what her natural hair color was. There were things on her profile that were false, he knew, and when there is a lie or cover-up... L wanted the truth. Though this only proved to be true if it interested him. The same went with her eye color.

" So, you have the ability to find others like yourself just by looking at them?" He asked her, choosing to ignore her out-of-mind spazz about murderers even though he himself agreed with it.

" It all depends on the thief." She answered an enigmatic smile.


	11. Mismatched Sugar Hassles

Mismatched Sugar Hassles

Chapter 11

With L

Last night had been busy and L hadn't even been working on a case. Now that this one was over he was almost bored.

Almost bored was because he could never seem to get the chance to be bored when Masumi was around, and she seemed to want to go by Whisper. Which threw off the Task Force since they obviously weren't expecting L to work with a criminal. Again.

They had also agreed that they would stay at the building and live there ( with the ability to visit family whenever they wanted) for when the next big case came in.

Right now at nearly 10 o'clock in the morning, everybody was asleep... save for L. He was typing away at his keyboard with the last of his jollyranchers in his mouth just _waiting _for Watari to come walking through those doors with a new case... or a new tray of sweets.

Lawliet had stayed up all night eating, watching the news, and scanning the internet for anything that didn't seem to add up.

That's when he heard the closing of a cabinet and his first thought was to ignore it, since it was more than likely Watari... or Masumi perhaps?

Watari walked through the door about a minute later. Although L was pleased with the new fully stacked cart of sweets, he found himself a little disappointed that it hadn't been Masumi that was awake at this time of morning.

That was, of course, until he took a bite of one of the freshly baked double chocolate chunk brownies on a plate on it. He stopped and thought, remembering that it _was _possible for Watari and Masumi to both be awake at this hour on a Saturday.

L had only started to consiered this because he had now had enough of both Watari's and Masumi's cooking to know the difference betwwen the two... as slight as it was.

These sweets were Masumi's doing, meaning she had probably stayed up the entire night without him noticing and used his kitchen.

He couldn't help but smile a bit at the memory of Masumi stepping into the kitchen and freezing with her eyes wide and mouth slightly agape. She turned to him with a giant grin and said.

" You could've bribed me with this kitchen and I would've told you anything."

He shook his head since he did, after all, still need a case to keep him occupied with.

L searched patiently, going through peices of cake, cookies, homemade pocky, ohagi, and other sinfully sweet pastries.

Ten minutes later, the slightly zoned out L heard then kitchen door open once again. If it wasn't for the fact that he knew Masumi's ghost like way of getting from one place to another he might have been surprised when he saw her settle in a seat next to him out of nowhere. Her footsteps were always so silent, no matter what she wore on her feet... then again he had never seen her where heels outside of their game.

" No luck finding a formidable opponent?" Masumi catechized curiously as she peered at the screen.

L's eyes never strayed from the computer as he explained.

" Not yet. I have a question for you."

" You always seem to have a question for me." She muttered in response.

" Why are you still wearing your disguise?"

" Habit." She replied a bit too quickly. L knew there was another meaning, so he pressed the matter.

" Is that the only reason?"

" Maybe." The young girl quipped.

" That's a yes or no question." He stated.

" Maybe is almost always apart of yes and no questions." She retorted.

" Is this question too personal?"

" You're catching on to that, huh?" She sarcastically questioned. L knew he was cutting into nerves now, so he changed it up.

" Why did you give in so quickly?"

" Why do you think?" She seemed to like, not to mention be good at, answering a question with a question.

" Was my guess correct, then?"

" Depends on what your guess was." Her defenses were sturdier and a bit more practiced than most firewalls.

" Just answer the question." He said, putting a halt to her ' going nowhere fast' scheme.

" Don't get me wrong... I liked the risk at first. The risk of getting caught, you know? Then... well, then I get the chance to be a thief for more...' legal reasons' with the chance of still getting caught. There is no proof of my being Whisper. You have no record of my confession. So, really... I could leave at any time, move, and change my identity. Then," Her eyes twinkled." I would rename my shop, start all over again, and you would never know it was me. You would never see me or my cooking again." This was the part that made him pause.

' She's right for the most part. No wonder she gave in so easily. She has nothing to lose until we find that money, or catch her in the act. She has an explanation for everything else, including alibis.' Lawliet realized.

" Do you plan on doing that?" Was his next question.

" If I have to or get bored...maybe." That word again. He detested that word right now.

Something seemed to have caught her eye at that moment as she moved even closer to the screen.

" Well, I guess level one can commence. You've found an escaped prisoner... that you even put away while you were playing a game with me. I must say I'm a little wounded. You should only play one game at a time." Her playful murmur was inaudible to all but him. There was no one else in the room to hear it anyways. His eyes scanned over the file he had just clicked on.

Sure enough, there he was, Ben Hark. The photo was his black and white mugshot.

L felt her stiffen beside him and looked at her as her face seemed to get paler.

" Do you know him?" He hoped not.

" No, worse," She started, making him wonder what was worse than knowing a murderer." I'm related to him. He'll kill again if we don't catch him soon."

" We can leave this to the police-"

" No, we can't. It's thanks to them that he escaped in the first place." She huffed, pushing herself away from the computer and standing.

" What is he to you?" L was curious. Maybe he could find out her true identity this way.

" He's been dead to me for awhile, so nothing." She growled under her breath.

' So much for that.' He mentally sighed.

" Do you know where he lives?" He asked, and spotted a glint of evil pass over her face.

" I do, but he won't go back there for awhile. We can catch him there... _if_ you let me sneak into his house. He hides everything he needs in case of something like this in his house. Let me do that, and he'll practically turn himself in." She offered and this confused L. A feeling he did not like.

" Very well, do you require any assisstance?" L asked her and the newly determined girl shook her head slowly.

" Give me ten minutes to get ready and I'll be set." She walked out of the room as L turned his eyes to the screen, wondering why Masumi would be so cooperative with putting a relative back in prison.

Then he moved on to a family tree site to search for how she'd be related to him. Unfortunately, he needed to register first. When he clicked ' Register' a multitude of things popped up. Almost every bit of a registered persons life was needed just to sign up.

' This is going to take awhile.' He thought as he stared at the screen to think things up.

With Whisper

' He should be glad I wasn't sent to kill him.' She thought glaring at the house as she walked up to it. The girl had a feeling that the place would be wired.

Sure enough she noticed a fingerprint and eye scanner. Then she saw the voice recognizer. This just made her sigh.

' Typical, Alan. You probably haven't even changed your passcode, yet.' She thought as she set her pack down beside her and unzipping it. Yes, his real name was Alan Marks. She wasn't related to him, though. She just knew that telling L that would let her come here and do what she was about to do. Masumi had packed for this ocassion.

From her bag, Whisper removed a small pair of scissors, a screwdiver, and a mini-laser. Working fast, she unscrewed the lids of all three devices,, and got busy cutting and reattaching wires. Within a few minutes she was able to get into the house.

Masumi may not have been related to the man, but she had certainly been acquainted with him. He had been a friend of her fathers before he died. He was the one that had framed her father for a murder and theft that her father had not commited.

Her parents true identities were never found as everyone in her immediate family knew hacking better than a normal family was supposed to know. Those that knew of their job were usually criminals themselves with other aliases if they were smart.

Cautiously taking a step into the house, her eyes passed over the entire room, looking for any sign of a trap. Finding none, she continued her breaking and entering with intent to steal idea. She found everything hidden in the pillowcase of the pillow next to the one he used at night.

It was all papers. Important papers, though. Ones that held things from codes to escape routes and places to escape to. She packed those away in her backpack. Then she moved to his computer and sat in the provided seat. Turning on the device before taking out a flash drive and plugging it in she was soon met with a password.

' Let's try this.' Masumi thought, getting into hacker mode. Her fingers ticking away at the keyboard in order to find anything she needed to complete her mission. Once she found what she was looking for she copied them to the flash drive, bugged the computer, and turned everythng off not bothering to erase her trail because she knew he would be back any minute now.

She sprinted across his backyard, hands gripping the straps of her backpack as she made a clean getaway. Adrenaline washed over her insides and she couldn't help but giggle a bit because of it.

' I'm going to make you wish you were dead, Alan.' Was her last thought before disappearing into a cab set for the the building L and the others were waiting.

Back with L

' She lied to me.' L mused only slightly shocked at the realization after he had searched through Ben Harks's family tree.

' Ben Harks isn't even his real name.' L was glaringg slightly at the screen of his computer now.

That's when Masumi stepped into the room with a grin on her face that in any other case would have more than likely have meant trouble for him.

" Guess what I got?" She asked, holding up an object no larger than his picky.

" A flash drive." He stated as she handed it to him.

" Correct. AND it has some very useful information that could make it so we will be able to find him no matter where he goes. I even let him know that I had been there and done so."

" How did you do that?" He asked, seeming slightly concerned.

" I left a trail of bread crumbs." Masumi smiled brightly.

" You're enjoying doing this to him?" L queried.

" Please, you already know that I'm not related to him. Everyone has a little evil in them." She smirked.

" Why'd you lie?"

" To keep you busy while I was gone." Masumi answered easily. She looked over at his snack tray that was already about halfway gone.

" By the way, L-san, I'm working in the morning and I wanted to know if you wanted to assist me." Masumi questioned, going off topic. It dawned on him that that was the first time she had acknowledged him by that name. He set that thought off to the side with a shake of his head before he answered.

" You are not allowed to work when we have a case, especially when you just made yourself known to him, He might just go straight to your cafe." These words made her pause.

" He wouldn't dare do anything so stupid. Even though he's sloppy he's not completely stupid." The female thief told him. L shook his head again.

" Then you have nothing to worry about and shouldn't mind staying here until we have properly dealt with Alan Marks." He stopped for a moment, comtemplating his next words before continuing." I apologize, Masumi, but you are not permitted to leave this building unless I say otherwise." He waited for the explosion. After a few seconds, however, all she did was turn around and leave the room.

His eyes moved to the camera displaying her room, and when she entered her room, she walked over to where the camera was. The next thing he knew he was looking at a blank screen. This wasn't what L was expecting. He thought she would have tried to kill him... at least punch him or something.

' She must not be the physically violent type.' L considered and then added.

' I deserved this sort of retaliation... I should've been expecting it.' He let out a small sigh and started looking through the papers. The whole time scolding himself for not knowing what to expect from the young woman. She would be living in the same building, after all.

' Why does knowing this make me so happy?' He wondered scanning over the last of the papers while he finished off the rest of the ohagi.

He finished off the cart only hours later while he got reconnected twith the camera in Masumi's room.

Sound almost overloaded his speakers so he turned the volume down, noticing it was coming from three different sources in her living room. Two completely different songs were playing at the same time and obviously came from both of her computers. The last source was her TV set, that appeared to have the volume turned almost all the way up. The most curious part of the scene, however, was Masumi. She was sitting on the floor in the middle of it all with her eyes closed.

' Is she... meditating?' He asked himself as he examined every detail of what was going on it the room closely. He reached over to select another snack from the cart beside him, but found nothing there.

" Oh, I ate everything." He stated. He was about to call Masumi up to request she make more, but at that moment Watari walked intio the room from the kitchen, and pushed the cart back into the kitchen and soon reappearing with it refilled.

" Masumi-chan made enough for two carts last night and this morning. She told me earlier today that I should check to see if it needed to be refilled around this time. It would seem she knows how you work better than I do when it comes to sweets." He chuckled.

L looked at him for a moment, then to the cart, and finally to the girl on the screen.

" It would seem so." He agreed.

Safe to say he kind of felt like an ass for telling her what he did, but to him there was no other way to secure her safety.


	12. Bittersweet Translation Part 1

Bittersweet Translation

Chapter 12

One Month Later... Masumi's POV

There had still been no information to help us identify this case as progressive... so L kept at it. Never really leaving his seat behind the huge monitors and computers. I had to close my shop down for awhile. What surprised me was it didn't really bother me. The reason why it didn't bother me bothered me ( as much sense as that makes).

It seemed that I had become accustomed to being around L and the Task Force, but mostly L. I had learned not long after switching permanent residence that Light and Matsuda were in a relationship and I had learned that the hard way.

By that I mean I walked in on them...

Flashback to 3 weeks ago

I was walking down the hall to Lights room because his receiving intercom seemed to be disconnected or broken. The long and simple hallway was almost maze-like considering the size of the the floors of the buildings themselves. I was thinking about what could possibly be wrong with the monitors and knocked on the door lightly. When I got no response, I checked the knob to see if it was locked.

It wasn't... so I walked in... only to find that I should have knocked louder.

I saw Light and Masuda in what seemed like a very passionate liplock on Light's bed. There were other factors that will never leave my memory even if my mind tried its hardest to repress them. Like the fact that they were both naked, and that Light was on top of the slightly older police operative.

I stood frozen in the doorway with my eyes bugged like a deer caught in the headlights, unable to look away from the scene playing before me.

Their bodies were covered in perspiration that suggested other ( more explicit) things had been going on before the ( slightly) more innocent making out. I couldn't move my hands to cover my eyes.

I didn't know what to think. My mind was a relapsed hard drive.

After a few more seconds when my eyes were capable of movement, I looked around for the reason I needed to be here in the first place.

Then my eyes spotted it, the intercom thing I was looking for.

Only it wasn't broken or anything like that... it was turned off. Along with the camera, but that I could understand.

It seemed that L had learned of this sooner than I had.

I heard a moan and tried my hardest not to continue watching the live gay porno going on behind me even after I turned the intercom receiver on. I was looking at the wall the whole way to the door and the closer I got the louder the moans became. The louder the moans got the redder my face became. It was a near cycle of madness and an awkward meeting just waiting to happen... if either of them was able to open their eyes and actually focus on anything around them. Not that their inability to do so really bothered me or anything.

I shut the door as quickly as I could an ran from the room.

' God I hope I wasn't noticed.' Was my last thought when I realxed at the bottom of the steps.

End Flashback

" Masumi-san? Are you alright? Masumi-san?" A voice asked, pulling me from my daze. My eyes moved to the source of the voice, finding the intercom in my room to be it.

' L must have seen me zone out...' Then I started worrying.' I hope I wasn't making faces.' I knew I usually made faces when I was flashbacking.

I just nodded at the camera and sighed.

" You were making strange faces and they worried me." I pursed my lips at this. So, I had been making faces.

" I was just remembering something." Was my reply.

" May I ask what you were remembering, then?" He was awfully curious. Then again he was a detective.

" Yes, you may." There was silence.

" You're not going to answer, are you?" He seemed to be expecting this, and it made me smirk.

" You're learning." I ruffled the hair of my wig. I needed a shower. I headed towards the bathroom with some clothes, but then I stopped and wondered if I should mess with L a little.

I mean, we were two adults, afterall.

The thought made a smile cross over my face. There weren't cameras in my bathroom... because I had disconnected it by cutting the wires and then put a piece of paper over it the lens in case he had a way of using a wireless version.

I wasn't bold enough to go through with my whole plan, but I could go through with most of it.

There were still voice monitors in there, though. I didn't care for that. It couldn't see me.

I stripped off my shirt and tossed it onto my bed from the inside of my bathroom. Then I closed the door.

" Was that really necessary, Masumi-san?" L questioned from my bathroom counter, and I looked at the little machine.

" Maybe." I smiled as I started stripping off the rest of my clothes, tossing them all to the corner or my bathroom. I turned towards the mirror after I took off my wig to remove my contacts.

" Why are you so against a video camera in your bathroom? I specifically had it placed so that it is unable to see anything below your shoulders." He started again. It was the same almost everytime, but it made me smile now.

" You can hear me, Ryuuga-san, that should be enough." I told him simply as I removed one of my color contacts.

" I just want you to know that I have no ill intentions in doing so." He restated.

" No, you just want to see what I really look like under the wig and contacts so you can search for my real file." I knowingly stated before turning my back to the machine and stretching my arms.

There was silence on the other side of the intercom until...

" Why do you say that, Masumi-san?" He asked softly.

" Because I know you." I smiled again before turning on the shower water.

I then thought about the past month and how I made new friends with the majority of the task force. My mind ket straying back to L for some reason I didn't know of. This was something I recognized to be the start of problems in my furture. Fraternizing with the enemy was a bad habit for me to start.

Not that L was the enemy anymore. So, it's okay if I like him.

I stopped and my eyes widened.

' Do I like him?'

I considered the possibility.

' Shit, I think I have a crush on him.'

With L

L stared at the monitors, and decided that it be best for him to stop trying to talk to Masumi while she was in the shower.

Then he heard the water turn off and Masumi curse.

" Is something wrong, Masumi-san?" L asked over the intercom to her bathroom.

" Not really." She said easily, and he looked to her monitor to see her walking out of her room in a towel that didn't leave a lot to the imagination as it showed plenty of cleavage and stopped at her mid-thigh. L blushed slightly and turned away from the screen to respect her prvicay until he turned back in time to see her walk into her bathroom once more.

" Just forgot to take in clothes." Masumi added.

" I saw that. It would be best if you tried to remember to bring them into the bathroom with you before bathing in so you can refrain from walking around half-naked." He said and he heard her smile when she responded.

" Ryuuga-san, a person cannot remember everything all the time. Is something wrong?" She seemed to have noticed the miniscule tremor in his voice.

That's when it clicked in his head that she was trying to get to him.

" Masumi-san, why are you so keen on keeping your true features a secret?"

His eyes trailed her as she walked back into the bathroom with her clothes.

Silence. He waited for her to respond to his question.

" Some people in society are not accepted because of their ' natural features' or they attract too much attention because of them. I am both rejected from society and attract too much attention with my true features."

" You attract quite a bit of attention without showing them." He hinted, hopefully reminding her of their chat in her shop months ago so that he didn't have to explain it again.

" That attention isn't as noticable as it could be." She muttered softly.

" There is one particualr thing that I haven't been able to figure out." He mummbled with his slight English accent.

" And what would that be?"

" You and Whisper have one particular difference."

" That being?"

" She's usually a step ahead of me."

" I don't need to be. Whisper and I are not the same person." She simply stated.

" Then why did you ask the Task Force including myself to refer to you as her?"

" To see if any of them would really do it." She giggled as she walked out of the bathroom again, but this time fully clothed.

She seemed to have an answer for everything. This made L wonder if it was her thinking ahead in the conversation or just thinking up responses in record time. Her quick wit made her interesting to talk to. Though, his mind once again wandered to the case he still had yet to solve.

Strangely enough, this time he felt that he was still not done with the Whisper case until she had confessed. Was Masumi still playing her game with him? He was almost certain she was Whisper and had even almost talked her into saying it herself, but she had talked her way out of it.

" You say you are working with me because you are bored. Because you need a distraction. I have yet to see your actual identity and read over your file. You state that your parents were theives and were associated with theives as well. Why wouldn't that convince me?"

" Just because I am a natural born thief does not mean that I am Whisper. You know this and it bothers you because you are considering the fact that you could be wrong. With your being childish and my calling it all a game and being childish yourself only makes you hate losing even more and you think that the game isn't over until you win. You are certain of my being Whisper simply because I have admitted that I am a thief. I believe this is unfair."

" Why are you saying so much? Don't you think a guilty person would say about as much in defense?" He challenged.

" You're right. A guilty person would say about as much, but I am not saying it defensively."

" Then why did you say it?"

" I'm bored and need a distraction. Talking to someone like you keeps my mind busy and me from becoming bored." Masumi admitted.

" People like me?"

" Don't take it offensively. I like people like you. They're fun to talk to... even when they're under the impression that I am Whisper and are accusing me of it in even the simplest of conversations." She quipped with a smile. He saw her stop in the doorway between her room and the living room of her floor. She seemed to be thinking somethng over.

Lawliet found it amusing and at the same time off-putting how she did that just like Whisper did, but instead of stealing something... she'd...

Start on a cleaning frenzy?

L had never seen her do this and it piqued his curiosity like she always seemed to have the knack of doing. Her quirks seemed to be scheduled. The detective didn't like how she seemed to be able to gain his attention without even trying.

" You really like watching her, don't you, Lawliet?" Light asked from his spot on the couch. The panda-eyed man looked over at him, almost shocked. He hadn't heard him come in and he didn't even walk like Masumi.

" I can't blame you, she is cute, but what I don't get is how you could fall for a criminal. What with your sense of justice and all." Light mocked, walking over to the screens.

" Fall for her?" L whispered to himself softly. Could he?

" You watch her so intently that I can't tell whether you're waiting for her to slip up... or just interested."

" She's a beautiful girl, Light. Unlike some people I know what it's like to be interested in a girl for reasons other than the fact that she can help to fulfill a selfish quest for power." L retorted. He had no problem with homosexuals, it was just that he knew this would get to Light.

" Oh, that's right. You didn't know I was aware of this." L looked off to the side as though he had said it out loud by mistake. He got the right response too. Light's eyes were wide and everything.

" Don't worry, I'm not the only one that knows... it's just that I thought you had decided to finally come out of the closet with Matsuda. What with your display in front of the camera." That did it, too. Light snapped and walked out of the room like L had planned in the first place. He didn't want Light bothering him during this case. It seemed personal to Masumi, and he knew that she disliked Light for murdering her parents because of a misjudgement.

His eyes widened severly as he realized that at some point either Light or Misa had seen the names of Masumi's real parents. He considered visiting Misa in prison, but he had a feeling it would be easier for him to just send Masumi there to talk to her or something. Even with that idea, he knew that there was no way Masumi was going to visit Misa without a decent reason.

Thinking on those lines, he realized that with Masumi on the team Light really no longer had a use here. With him gone, though, Matsuda may retaliate against him.

' Oh well,' He sighed.' Matsuda and the rest of the Task Force don't have much use here anymore either. Harmless criminals like Masumi seem to be all I need to solve these murderers.' L wasn't planning on sending Masumi to prison anytime soon anyways. She did make some of the best snacks he has ever tasted.

He looked back at the screen and saw Masumi still at it. Before she had been folding clothes so precisely it had started to worry him and now she was on her hands and knees scrubbing the floor of the kitchen. Then she suddenly stopped and looked around as if the silence in the room had finally started to affect her. The young woman stood up, leaving her cleaning supplies where she had left them, and walked over to one of her computers.

She took a step back as music started and she just seemed to be listening to it for a few seconds. Hearing it himself, L paused, recognizing the song. It was Chopin for awhile and then it changed to Beethoven's Fur Elise... which started off sounding like the original song, but then turned out to be a techno version of it. For the rest of the time that she cleaned she listened to remixed versions of classical songs.

To L... it seemed as though she was constantly trying to stop thinking about something, and was usually able too, but when she wasn't she needed something else there.

Again he had to wonder if the girl on the screen was bored, lonely, or both. The difference between this time and last time was that the other person had been Whisper. Hell, maybe they were the same person.

Maybe all the was wrong with Masumi at this moment was that she needed a peice of cake...

The sugar addicted detective looked at the once again refilled sweet cart beside him and then back to Masumi. She certainly seemed to be able to know just when he was going to need to have his cart repacked with sugary delicacies of all sorts.

He pressed a button.

" Watari, could you send a tray of Masumi's sweets to her room, please?" L knew that he was supposed to be working on the murder case involving Alan Marks, but he knew no better way than to talk to Masumi about it.

Let alone a more plesant one.


	13. Bittersweet Translation Part 2

Bittersweet Translation Part 2

Upside down Reese's Pieces

Chapter 12

L made his way into the elevator and took it to Masumi's floor. Before he had left the room he had turned off the camera monitoring the rooms of her floor as he wanted to have a private conversation with her and knew that he could not do so otherwise.

Watari stood next to him with the sweet filled tray he had asked for on it. The ride was quiet but not awkwardly so as the two had known eachother since L had been orphaned.

Once the elevator stopped and opened its door, L and Watari stepped into the hallway. Lawliet noticed that the hallway of her floor were darker than before and wondered if she had done that on purpose for one reason or another or if they just needed changing. He would have to mention to her to see if having them changed was something necessary.

He was going to knock on the door, but before his hand even touched the door it opened, revealing Masumi with hazel eyes and blonde hair. She had changed it up, and now reminded him ever so slightly of Misa Amane. Though Masumi did not wear make-up.

" Can I help you something, Ryuuga-san?" She asked politely and then noticed the tray of sweets. She peered at L curiously now.

" I was wondering if I could talk to you about the Marks case. Am I bothering you at all?" He wanted to know if this was really an alright time for her. When her eyes lit up slightly, he was confident in what his answer would be. With a case that interested her it wasn't too hard to guess.

" Come on in." She said, moving aside, allowing him entry into her living room. he walked in and everything seemed so clean. She had waxed the kitchen floor, polished all the wooden furniture, and the television looked brand new.

" Everything here is so tidy." He mentioned as he looked around." Just like your house."

" It's one of those things I have a habit of doing in order to keep my mind busy." She explained as she paused the song.

" Makes me curious as to why you need a constant distraction."

" Bad things happen when I'm bored." She smiled as she lounged on one of the couches.

" So, what about the case did you want to talk about?" Masumi changed the subject.

" Whatever you know. There are no records of him in my database." L reasoned.

" That's because, like you, we use aliases." She pointed.

" Why?"

" A good thief is a good liar." Masumi enigmatically smiled. Then she looked at him.

" Watari watching the cameras?"

" Yes, but the one to the rooms on your floor are off." L filled in. Hearing this she seemed to be thinking something over.

" I see. You wanted this conversation to be confidential."

" I did." Lawliet agreed. He saw her eye the tray for a moment. He picked it up and placed it on the coffee table in between them. As though it were a peace offering. She cocked her head at it for a moment, smiled, and then took a peice of lemon pie. He noted that she tended to go for lemon flavored desserts over the rest.

" Alan Marks was a friend of my father's." Masumi started." The reason my father died was because he framed him for a theft he didn't commit. My father wasn't a thief he was just married to one... and friends with another." She mused.

" Your father was one of quite a few truly innocent victims of Kira." L spoke as he started stacking peices of fruit from one bowl onto a peice of cake that already had swirls of at least three different rry based fruits.

" Yes, but he and my mother loved and looked out for one another until the very end... unfortunately, that is one thing I have a problem with myself." L gave her a slightly confused look.

" What loving someone or looking out for them?"

" Trusting." The thief rephrased." I'm too guarded and have no real interest like most other women do. I'm too independent for that." She then got this distant look in her eyes, and L really wondered what had happened. Details were helpful and she was being rather vague. He just nodded and let her continue on so as to not push her comfort zone.

" Marks met my father in college. They both majored in engineering... dad was always making some new gadget for my mom to use."

" Something you picked up on?"

" I suppose." She smiled.

" Please, continue." He urged.

" Marks told my father that there was an organization that would love his talent and be able to use it. Mom's work was shady and risky enough and so he declined. The organization ended up hiring Marks instead anyways."

" Have you ever met anyone from this organization?" L picked out a peice of strawberry with his fork and set it on another plate as though he was saying it for later. He kept his eyes on Masumi, practically able to see the gears turn in her mind as she tried to remember.

" Yeah, their main techie, Atticus... and once I think I saw this other guy... don't know what he really did, but I met him once while he was talking with my father. I think his name was Novice, but no one is the organization Marks told my dad about was. They were all pros at whatever they were assigned to." Masumi frowned.

L didn't like seeing her frown so he offered her the piece of strawberry on his other plate.

" I'll give you this strawberry if you stop making such negative facial expressions." He bargained. She glanced at it, then to him, and smiled.

" That's why Mr. Marks's residence was so secure." L then noted and she nodded her head and accepted the strawberry... still smiling.

" Yes, the man is very paranoid and egotistical about his work. Then again, all geniuses have some streak of crazy in them... no matter how innocent." She seemed to hint as she glanced at him, a smirk playing on her lips.

" Why did you tell me about the organization?"

" It is a corrupt one and its plan is to knock out the power in the Kanto region, take it over, and start a dictatorship. They were very fond of Kira... even if they used him the same way Kira would have used him." She explained, and then added." To get to the top of the power hungry food chain and play God on the giant playground that is Tokyo." Masumi enthused.

" Did your father tell you this?" Lawliet needed to know this. He believed what she said her father told her because he knew she had too great a connection with him to lie about something like this. When she nodded he realized what they had just stepped into.

" They don't have thieves in the organization. They have techies, killers, and the boss. They're known to attack first through their techies, then their killers take out any other problems. They haven't been able to find me because as smart as he is, Marks doesn't know shit when it comes to computers, and he might even have accidentally put in his other flash drive." She smirked as she popped the piece of strawberry into her mouth.

" Other flash drive?" He had never been told of another one.

" It's a work in progress. I once got a virus on my computer and put it on a flash drive... then I started ' feeding' the virus and making it stronger and more complex. I have more of those viruses on hand where that little bug of disaster came from." She sounded proud of herself.

" What did that bug do?"

" Ate away at all of his computers information that I copied to one of my other flash drives, found the more important stuff, and is probably headed towards them now if it hasn't already reached them." She muttered, and then sat back.

" What's your real name?"

" I'm sorry?"

" Your real name. Not Eraldo Coil, Ryuuzaki, Ryuuga, or anything like that. The one you were born with."

" How do you know about that alias?" L asked, meaning the Eraldo Coil one.

" Internet."

" Do you know of all of my aliases?"

" Probably."

" What's yours?"

" Don't turn this on me." She laughed.

" You tell me and I'll tell you." He explained, and she sighed, thinking for a moment.

" Can't I just show you my natural hair color?"

" No, if you do that you would have to show me your eyes as well in order to have it be equal. I've hidden my identity from the world for longer than you know." L softly mentioned as he watched her think again.

" Nevermind then. I'm too insecure about my natural colors." Masumi stated and propped her feet up beside her. She was now laying on the couch across from him and he couldn't help but notice her athletic figure.

' Ideal for a good thief.' Lawliet thought as he took his 6th Reese's mini-cup from the bowl. He glanced over at Masumi again, and saw she was staring at the ceiling.

" Could you at least give me a hint as to why you are so insecure about you natural hair and eye color?" The curious and determined detective asked, trying a different angle.

" Because very rarely is it natural. It is considered a genetic glitch to put it nicely."

" A genetic glitch." L repeated softly, thinking the term over while he carefully stacked the paper peanut butter cup shells. Then he stopped and moved back from the little tower that was slightly wavering.

" Masumi-san, have you noticed that your lights are darker on your floor than any other floor in this building" She nodded in turn.

" I'm sensitive to high frequencies of light. It hurts my eyes." She stated flippantly.

' Light sensetive eyes. Genetic glitch... where have I read about this?' He mused, thinking of these symptoms and wordings in case they might help him.

" I have little to no color pigmentation." She hinted then, giving it away.

" You're an albino then." He finally got it. Albino humans were very rare, indeed. That's when he added the factor of her pale skin. It all made sense. She _would _attract attention if she walked around Tokyo without a disguise.

" Yes." She said, concluding that conversation.

" Even after I know, you're not going to show me?" L attempted to grasp the logic in it.

" Why should I when you already know?" Masumi pointed.

" For my own selfish reasons. I have never seen an albino before." He confessed bluntly.

" That's it?" The girl didn't seem all that surprised.

" Unless you consider I might be able to trust you more if you trusted me a little a reason." He noticed her stand, and walk into the bathroom, closing the door behind her with a swift click. When she came out L noticed her eyes immediately. They were a dark pink, almost red around the pupils and the farther you got from the pupil the lighter her eyes got until you got to the thick black rim of them. The fact that she had removed her contacts shocked him... as he was not expecting her to. She was still hiding her hair under a wig, though. Becoming unbearably curious now, he decided he would think up a plan to find out if the information he had read was true.

After she sat down he noticed that she was watching him more intently. Though maybe that could just be an illusion from the intensity of her eyes based on their color alone. When barely a minute passed, true to her word, she turned her head, blushing. She really was insecure about it. This wasn't going to help with the plan he had just come up with.

Suddenly, he stood up from his unique sitting position and walked over to her rather quickly. L had to move fast in order to beat her almost computer programmed fast reflexes. Before she could blink, he had her pinned to the back of the couch. His face was right by her left ear, and before he moved…

" I apologize." Then he picked the realistic wig right off her head, allowing her originally piled up pure white hair to cascade down her back. When he moved away, he caught her widened eyes. They flashed with shock and… was that fear or embarrassment? Whatever it was, he caught it and threw it across the room.

" Lawliet." His composure words more than likely adding to her shock and confusion.

" Beg you pardon?" Was her dazed response. She obviously had little experience when it came to much outside of cooking and theft cases. Which meant that she had little to no experience with men aside from helping them find what dessert was most appealing to them.

" My name is Lawliet." He repeated.

" O-oh." She recovered after awhile, but then squirmed in her seat under his scrutiny of her unique features. Personally, he'd say that they suited her better than any disguise she could come up with. It's not like it made her any less desirable.

" I believe in an eye for an eye. Give me information and I shall return the favor. Do you see what I mean?" Seeing her nod, although a bit mechanically, he went back to his devouring of the available sweets.

" I did not mean to make you uncomfortable in anyway, Masumi-san. My tactics for gaining information are known to be… unconventional." She still seemed to be having slight difficulty in evening out her breathing.

" I know, Ryuuga-san... it's just." She took a deep breath." I'm not familiar with being so close to someone of the male persuasion."

" I understand." He nodded, accepting the confirmation to his earlier thought. L knew it wasn't right to feel this way, but he felt amused by her reaction to his invasion of her personal space box.

With Masumi

The realization that he had been close enough to kiss her ( and then some) hit her like a ton of bricks.

" I actually think it's alittle bit of a punishment as well." He said, a tad off-handedly.

" You see, it is not wise for a woman to allow a man into her room when they are not together." This statement made Masumi briefly wonder if he was trying to change the subject or just being his strange self.

" You came down here to talk to me about the Marks case." She retorted, getting her nerve back almost as soon as the words had come out of his mouth. Then she remembered how warm his body was during that time he was near her. How the hairs on the back of her neck had stood on end and goosebumps had been so quick to form on her arms. It wasn't a disgusting sensation for L to be that close to her. Not like it was for some of the other men she had attempted to date during her mid-teens.

The blush on her face grew darker under his curious ( not to mention almost intimidating) gaze. Though, like the other times he had looked at her like this, it wasn't a leering look, it was just extremely observational. One would think she would have gotten used to him looking at her like that, but now... it seemed like she always got this weird feeling in the pit of her stomache. These peculiar feelings made her more curious than she had been in awhile. How had one man gotten such an incredible reaction out of her just by being near her?

Maybe... just maybe... she really DID have a crush on the socially challenged insomniac before her. If she wasn't so self-conscious she might have tested it on a bolder level.

" I had a thought that since you and I will be working together for quite some time that getting to know the other a bit better might make it easier... so, if it isn't too much trouble... would you mind calling me Lawliet during these talks of ours?" L cocked his head to the side. He was so adorable when he did that. Masumi felt like she was at a bit of a loss.

" I don't mind at all." She smiled.

" Also, I insist that you not wear your disguise while alone with me... personally, I think it suits you very nicely." This comment made took Masumi aback.

" I'll consider it." She murmured, somehow becoming timid within seconds at the mere mention of it. She was always wearing her disguises. ALWAYS.

" That would be most appreciated." He stated with a small smile, and she couldn't help but smile back. It really was addictive.

" Ryu-Lawliet... what, may I ask, is your plan in the solving of the Marks case?" Now it was her turn to change the subject in some way. She couldn't help but like the peculiarly fascinating name of his. She wondered what its origin was.

" Honestly, I haven't come up with one as of yet." Lawliet admitted, making the infamous thief freeze.

' You have got to be shitting be.' She thought.


	14. Revenge and Chocolate

If it's Worth the Strawberries

With Masumi

She couldn't believe this.

" There's also the frustrating matter that it has been a month since this case started... and yet I have not a clue as to how to proceed just yet. Lately, there have been complications in the focus of my thoughts and strategies."

" What do you mean complications?" Masumi asked with a tilt of her head, showing her curiosity.

" Well, over the time that I've known you, I've realized that not only could you be useful to me in cases, but I could very well fall for you." He mused aloud, making the young girl blush. Did the greatest detective in the world _really _just say that it was possible for him to be in love with her?

" Wait, so it's my fault?" She questioned dubiously.

" I didn't say that, but it is another way of putting it." L nodded and then added." Though, you are just the main source of my distractions. Other things concern the fact that I have no information of this organizations whereabouts." She was speechless until that last part was said.

" Oh, that's easy, Lawliet. I know exactly where the place is."

" You do? Why didn't you tell me?"

" I didn't think of it until now and I thought you'd want to find out on your own." He tilted his head to the side.

" How did you guess that I would want to do that?"

" Because if I didn't know... I'd want the same." She replied softly.

" Do you wish to infiltrate it?" He questioned. L watched her mull it over... she could feel his eyes on her and it made it hard for her to think about what he was asking.

" I-i could use the challenge." She agreed.

" Is that a 'yes' then?"

" Yes, Lawliet. That's a yes." She said sarcastically, but couldn't help but smile at him. She knew she could get used to hanging out with him like this... even if he got that close every once in awhile. Masumi wondered what would become of them. She wasn't used to working with someone, let alone a guy. Work at the shop was not teamwork like this was.

With L

He watched her stand up and head towards one of her computers. When he really looked at it, it seemed old, but everything on it looked brand new.

" You updated an old computer?" He asked her.

" It's easy to trick someone into thinking that their crap isn't worth stealing." Masumi smiled.

" You even disguise your best technology... is there something about you that you are afraid people will see?"

" As a fellow liar, you should know that I won't tell you truth to that question at this time." L just nodded and decided to watch her as she seemed to know exactly what she was searching for. That's when they popped up.

" So, that's what you do before going out to steal." He tilted his head, understanding it now.

" Maybe."

" If you keep using that word I'm going to kick you." Lawliet told her, and she turned to him with a smile( I had to put that quote in here, it's one of my favorites XD).

" I wonder who would win that fighting game." She muttered.

" I never called it a game." He said blatantly.

" But I did. If you kicked me I would have no choice but to kick you back. Isn't that how an eye for an eye goes?" She pointed.

L would never hurt her, but the idea of playing another game with her did sound like fun. Not a cops and robbers game, but just a regular one.

" Got blueprints of the inlay and after the updated additions."

" Updated additions?"

" Security technology and the sort." She revised. L soon saw her smile and cock her head to the side and decided to ask

" What is it?" Masumi turned her head to him, but her eyes took longer to move away from the screen.

" Hm?"

" What do you see on there?"

" A paranoid organization that could be destroyed by their own system. Trying to get in may be dangerous, but I haven't been out in such a long time. All one would need to do with all of this is some serious hacking beforehand." She shrugged.

" For what reason?"

" Disabling certain... more dangerous security systems without it showing that they've been disabled from an outside source... which it would if I simply disabled them." Her eyes had a distant look in them and he knew that right now, she was 'in her zone'. Her mind more than likely finding the perfect way of getting in and out of the nearly over-wired building. The way she seemed to have everything in the place already down to memory fascinated him, and yet... it also made him wonder just how long her mother and father had trained her.

" Now, I need to get out of here cleanly." She muttered aloud, and the sound of rapid clicks made his eyes look to her hands. They were gliding over the keyboard at an outrageous speed and she wasn't even looking at them. He had seen this before and he pondered if her mother had taught her this or her father. Then the possibility occured in his mind that she could have very well taught herself.

He watched her stand up and stretch her arms and legs reminding L that her body was used to doing some of the most impossible acrobatic work that Masumi herself saw only as a tool in her work. Sitting in a chair for even some short periods of time could easily cause her to feel uncomfortable and stiff. Like most women, Masumi didn't have much muscle on her upper body... or her lower for the matter. With her clockwork mind and seemingly spring powered body, she didn't really need much strength in her line of work. Her body had been trained for flexibility, speed, and endurance. She could have been a model that would give Misa a run for her money, but L knew how quickly Masumi would get bored of that. Fame and fortune wasn't how she worked. Lawliet could barely grasp the reason why she did things, although it seemed almost the same as his own reason for doing what he did.

" Lawliet, is something wrong? You've been staring at me for awhile." She observed, breaking his train of thought, and he saw her blushing again, self consciously.

" Just thinking about something."

" You're always thinking of something." She smiled.

" Good point, now what is your plan?"

" Go in, take whatever they're hiding, get out. Their security system will start working at the last minute and destroy the building from the inside out."

" You mean _you_ are going to destroy their building from the inside out." He corrected, and she shrugged with a grin.

" Pretty much. I haven't caused some good havoc in awhile, and using that to avenge my parents deaths is going to be fun. I'm very determined to start." The albino thief rammbled.

" When do you plan on leaving?" He inquired already having an idea as he made a small sugar cube pyramid.

" Tomorrow night. I'm going to spend more time assessing the building of the organization later after I've made more sweets. I need to vent access energy the best way I know how." She answered with a smile, proving his thought wrong. L was under the impression that she was going to leave tonight. A look from her said she knew he was thinking. She walked around, collecting her wig, and going into the bathroom as she piled her snowy hair on top of her head, and L followed her. It was okay since she wasn't going to shower.

He stopped in the doorway in time to see her open her case of color contacts. Even as she was putting in her left contact, L could already tell she had become much more comfortable around him... even in her own skin rather than her disguised one.

As she walked past him, she stopped briefly, and placed a feather soft kiss on his cheek.

" You should probably check the news, Lawliet. They should have planned their first retaliation against me for breaking into a multitude of their employees houses sometimes this week." She blushed, before walking out of her room. L put a hand over the spot she had kissed him, staring at the door leading to the exit of the living room. That's when he realized her words.

' A multitude?' He thought in question. All he knew about was one, why was she saying that? He had video proof of her either sleeping at night or being in the kitchen on her floor or the one here.

He kept that thought as he made his way to the elevator. Had he somehow missed something? How was that possible? He monitored her almost 24/7. He sighed, knowing the chances of her hacking his camera system were high. L didn't know where she found the time.

' Why would she do that just to break into someone's house?' After thinking it over for awhile, he stopped and his eyes widened.

' She's baiting them, making them target her so that when she finally does break into their headquarters building… she'll know the assassins and how they work? I'll have to talk to her about that later.' He thought as he watched the news and found that the organization had decided to make their move, taking out the power in a town in Osaka.

" They've been provoked." He whispered as his eyes shifted to the kitchen. L turned off the television.

" We need to find out when they'll attack her virtually before they send their assassins after her… unless she stole everything to worry about from their houses. Who did she steal from and what did she take?" He sighed and stood.

He stepped into the kitchen and saw her there, hearing the music first as though she needed it to function or was addicted to it like some sort of potent drug. His gaze dropped to her hips swaying with the rhythm and quickly diverted it out of respect. She was humming the tune and would, every once in awhile even dance. L didn't know if she knew he was in the room, but if she did she didn't seem to care ( or had maybe even been expecting him).

The smell of what she was making came next and he looked to the stove, licking his lips.

" So, something finally lured you in? What was it?" She asked, not looking away from her task as she decorated something he couldn't see with his eyes on the stove.

" Confusion at first." L answered.

" And then?"

" The smell." He filled in.

" You're hungry then?"

" I'm in the mood for some cake." He said with his index finger on his bottom lip. He then noticed that she was just finishing up a strawberry cake.

" I had a feeling. Thinking seems to make you hungry." She reasoned as she carefully cut two pieces from the freshly decorated cake.

A light layer of vanilla white frosting with strawberries placed on it in 4 different places. There was chocolate frosting zig-zagged across the top and ringing horizontally around the sides in three precise rings.

When Masumi handed him his piece, she took a strawberry from top of the cake and placed it on his piece and smiling she told him.

" I'll give you this strawberry if you don't question my strategy, okay?" She asked, and he nodded, accepting it silently. It made him feel disappointment and happiness at the same time. Masumi knew how to make deals with him now and she seemed to be using it to her full advantage.

" Then what can you tell me?" L asked, with unintended large and curious eyes. He examined her facial expression as she thought it over.

" I can tell you that I won't fail, and that this will save Tokyo. I can tell you that I do not need any assistance unless you have some useful gadgets that I do not already possess. And I can tell you that I have no problem working with you as long as you continue to treat me with respect and as long as doing this keeps me distracted. I won't lose this game." She smiled brightly.

" That all depends on the game, Masumi-san." He told her and she half nodded.

" I have my ways." Masumi enigmatically stated.

" I have noticed that."

He spent that night trying to find out if she had, in fact, somehow hacked his cameras and replaced the proper feed with video of her sleeping or cooking. He found it odd that he hardly ever saw her watching television, and the only time she was on the computer was when she was about to play her music for her meditation or when she played an online game for a half hour or so.

L tried hacking it back, but all he got was white noise, which he stared at in annoyance.

Watching her make one sugary dessert after another fascinated him. Her patience, dexterity, speed, and overall skill was something he had seen Whisper use many times before. Though she, of course, used it for a less delicious cause.

His mind turned to all the choices he had. He could ruin things for her right now and make her stay inside… not that he'd be able to stop her with what she had already done to his cameras. Strangest thing was, L didn't feel like getting in her way. He had a feeling that she believed she needed to help justice along for her parents and that after this… things might be easier for her.

It wasn't long before his mind went back to the kiss. Lawliet really wondered why she had done that. Sure, she liked to play around with people, but the kiss seemed one of flirtatious thanks or something on those lines. She was too innocent to do something like that. The detective knew this because he trusted his powers of deduction. They had never really been wrong before… though, he felt that they almost were considering Light played through it all quite well during the Kira case.

Light was still there and had provided little to no help on the current case and so he ended up going back to prison. Matsuda, in turn, had thrown a bit of a temper tantrum and was now passed out on his bed. This had made L sigh. Neither of them were all that useful in the Whisper case that was still going on. Since Masumi knew who Light was and what he did to her parents, Lawliet knew that there was no way that Light could seduce her ( or anything on those lines for that matter) in order to get her to confess. She already seemed to know exactly what side of the fence Light was on… considering her accidental run in with the two of them spending some ' quality time' together. L couldn't help but smirk at the reactions she had displayed during the time she was in that room.

Masumi was really rather interesting if you didn't think about her strange logic and often times lack of common sense… not that L could really say anything about that every now and again himself ( you know this is true DN watchers). She was beautiful, understood his caution, and had actually taken up most of his thoughts before they had even met face to face. He knew she had given up her serial thieving simply out of curiosity, but he trusted her not to poison his sweets or try killing him. Her heart was too good for that, and she had been raised better. That much he had been able to deduce.

L frowned at himself, realizing that his mind had wandered away from the relevant subject about whatever he should have been ( and was) thinking about in the first place. She was every bit of a bit of a distraction as she was a woman and he a man. Aside from that, he was glad that she was able to be such a useful part of the team. Her only problems seemed to be trusting people, being insecure about her looks, and the fact that she was a thief that hasn't confessed to being Whisper like he knew she was.

Going back to the Mark's case, he looked at the camera in the kitchen behind him before he sat down. The spiky haired man saw how she used her free time; by improvising and putting it to better use rather than taking a break.

Keeping up with the updates online with news and other sites that he often went to for their accurateness, he checked on any news on the case and found that Masumi had broken into each and every single home of the known assassins in the organization ( not that the news knew they were assassins) and stolen all of their required instruments for their ' job' along with any valuables in their house that they had hidden somewhere, which L found predictable enough, and then rigged their house to malfunction if they had any tech security set up ( which most of them did). L was sure that this would prolong any possible ' retaliation' as Masumi had called it.

Suddenly remembering that the techies of the organization used all sorts of technological war as the preferred first choice, L wondered what they had done ( if they had been able to do anything at all. So, he decided to ask Masumi over intercom so that he didn't have to get up again.

" Masumi-san, I saw what you did to the killers of the group, but what about the techies?" His voice obviously gave away his innocent curiosity.

" They tried finding my exact location and my true identity, failing at both, and after they tried sending a virusy- bug- thingy into my system *loud noise of oven*… one second, pie's ready…" There was an obvious pause while Masumi got the pie out of the oven and then she continued." Well, after they tried that their systems had a major mental breakdown. Basically, either way I'm safe. If the techies are down, the muscle can't find me to get rid of me." The woman sounded like she was smiling for her own victory, and L himself couldn't stop himself from letting a small smile tug at the corners of his lips. Then something else came to his mind.

" May I ask you something?"

" Never stopped you before."

" If I hadn't caught you and you had gotten tired or bored of stealing from people that hid their valuables… what would you do?"

" Stop and find something better to do." Was her almost immediate answer that caught L completely off guard.

She would have eventually gotten bored of doing what she did best and just moved on to the next best thing?

" ;Like what, Masumi-san?"

" Are you alone in there or is someone else there with you?" She asked, suddenly cautious.

" I'm alone," He replied after looking around him to make sure that statement was true.

" Like I said before, Lawliet, I'd change my residence and find something interesting one way or another." She whispered convincingly. L sat back in his seat.

" Are you going to get tired of this anytime soon, Masumi-san?" He inquired.

" Probably not. I mean, there's you with your quirks and never boring conversation… and then, of course, the possibility of finding fun/distracting cases to solve using my talents for more legal means." She was almost rambling now, which was something L found slightly charming when he found it was one of her own quirks.

" I see. Going back to matters closer to the main topic… before you leave tomorrow night, I want you to be wired with a camera so that I can see everything that's going on and back you up, in case something goes wrong." He stated.

" You want a first row seat of the final round since you missed most every other part, huh? Fine with me as long as this camera and speaker are placed right and won't get in my way."

" You are not the only careful one here, Masumi-san." L muttered.

" I know, Lawliet. I know. It's one of the only ways you could have gotten so close to me." She explained before Watari walked into the room minutes later, bringing in the cart Masumi had been filling up as L and her had talked.

**Chapter 15: Revenge and Chocolate**

* * *

Revenge and Chocolate

Masumi's POV

The following night

I left around ten p.m., unable to sleep and having already made at least two cartfuls of sweets for Lawliet. Being able to call him that was nice even though it made me blush at the fact that in Japan it meant something more intimate than just friendship. I shook it from my mind and rode a taxi to a spot a block away from the organization's building.

Taking back roads to get to the building without being spotted by people walking by was something I had found easier over time. I stopped and looked around when I got to a wall of the building, trying to find a place to climb up as I searched my memory for anything that would keep me from shooting a hook to the top of the place.

I sighed and took out a gun of sorts, aiming it for the roof. Letting a hook fly, I waited for it to make contact with something. Then I hooked the gun under my arm, and pressed a button that sent me up to where the hook had landed.

Reaching the roof after awhile, I almost immediately made my way to the door that I knew led to an elevator. I skipped steps and could feel the adrenaline that I hadn't felt in awhile ( aand to this extent). If I got caught here, I was literally dead. What I heard next almost gave me a heart attack.

" Masumi-san, your heart rate is irregular. Are you alright?" Was that who I thought it was?

I remembered L putting a camera on me, but...

It _was. _He was the only one it could possibly be.

" L," I hissed." I'm in a highly wired facility with people that want to kill me very very badly. Of course my heart rate is going to be erratic...wait a second, you have me virtually hooked to an EKG machine?" I was astounded for a moment until I realized where I still was.

" Nevermind what I just asked... I'm fine. Please, be quiet and let me do my job." I whispered as I walked down more steps. Then I stopped and looked down the middle of the staircase. When I couldn't see anything I took out some goggles, and placed them over my head, adjusting them to my eyes. Pressing a button I saw no guards, but a few cameras. Now with my disguise it didn't matter, unless the cameras were actually handing back feed to the other side. Then I was dead no matter how I looked at it.

I took a deep breath, and got down to the bottom with a leap down the middle, my feet taking in the impact of almost two stories. Swiping a credit card through the lock of the door it opened. Peeking around the door very carefully, I saw people in the room across from me talking and not facing me.

' Thank you luck in my blood.' I thought as I soundlessly closed the door and crept out of the sight of the room's large window. Quickly removing my goggles from my head and shoving them back into my pack I soon found a room, and stopped when the door locked behind me.

" What are you looking for?" I heard L whisper, and the sound of his soft voice in my ear made my blush.

" Did you find something? Your heart's beating is erratic again." This news did not help my blush.

" No," I covered." you just startled me."

" I'm sorry."

" It's okay, L-san." I said forgivingly as I searched the room with my eyes. When I stopped and my eyes landed on the wall I walked over to it and felt it for any dents or sides. When I didn't find anything, my brows knit together. I was usually right, but not always. So, I looked at a place close to it... I looked to the floor.

' So, these people almost think like me.' Ran through my mind as I walked to the spot and crouched down. Running my hands over the rim, I smiled.

' These people have too much faith in their cameras and other electronics. They think that people will stay away if they have the place wired over twice. What a bunch of egotistical techies.' I giggled. Right under the boards on the ground was a cash stash.

' I feel insulted.' I frowned.' There are people with much less wiring that have more money for me in their stashes... unless there's more.' My face curled with a catish grin as I covered the spot. I then found a vent large enough to crawl through, and I was about to open it when I heard footsteps heading towards the door. Had they seen or heard the door close? Had I been found out? Or was it just something they needed in the room? Whatever it was I worked the ventilation door open, and crawled in, replacing the door behind me and turning around when I found a place where I could, peering out.

There were several men and a couple of women in there talking. I had a feeling that they were the people that had been in that other room on my way into this one. I briefly wondered if they were trying to find a way to find me, but then I remembered I had a more interesting job to do.

After going through intersection after intersection I found another room, and scanned it for occupants. When I found no one in there, I got out and quickly ran towards the area before anyone could walk in. I heard everything that was going on. I could hear footsteps above me, bugs around me. And every move I made, in turn, made a noise that not many could hear unless they regularly put themselves through training that I had. To me the noise I made was louder than any noise outside of the room. It was almost painfully loud and sometimes made me paranoid. The creaking of the floorboards, the every so slight movement of any furniture, even the spinning of a dial made me have to control myself so that I didn't jump and screw something up.

About an hour later

I was still in the building surprised and yet more paranoid than I had ever been in any of my other jobs. I knew that I didn't really have to do this, but I felt like I did to further pwn those that involved people like the true killer of my parents.

I had a harness around my midsection, and I was on the first floor, dangling right above an area that I had not been able to hack through. It seemed that all of the people in the organization had had a part in this ( or at least all of the techies). Very sensitive laser beams were placed all around the room, and I had to pull up my hair and tuck it under the skin tight hood I wore under my vest. My backpack was waiting on the ground near the doorway. I had come down from the ceiling of the room.

Right now, though, I was wishing with every fiber of my being that I was touching that ground. That my feet were touching the ground at least. Instead, I was hanging by threads and fibers above lasers that could kill me in one way or another. Either they sliced off limbs or they're harmless and they'll notify the people here that there's an intruder and _they'll_ kill me. I needed to relax but the heat from the lasers was starting to make me sweat. I saw a drop on my face, and quickly lifted my face, and swiftly moved it away.

Suddenly, there were no lasers, and the glass moved out of my way, so I could collect the box embedded there. I was shocked, so I just hung there, my muscles lax. Then I grabbed the box, placed it in my pack ( with much effort) and got rid of the cords holding me up.

Instinct kicked in and I started running. I was just booking it down the hallway towards the door that seemed so far away. That's when I heard yelling behind me.

" Hey! That's the hacker!"

" Thief too!"

" Stop! Tell us who you're working for!"

Those didn't sound like reasons for me to stop running, so I started sprinting. Energy pumped through my veins with all the adrenaline that had built up in my system, and now I was running faster than I had before and lasted longer. I busted through the door and didn't even pause to think about which direction to turn. I was letting my fight or flight sense take over and drive me to wherever I thought was safe.

That's when I was grabbed and pulled into a car faster than I could blink. I didn't even have time to think or react. I sat in the car dazed out of my mind until thought was able to register.

" L!" Sure enough, there he was sitting across from me in the limo.

" There's no need to be so loud." He said calmly with a slightly surprised look. I didn't realize how heavily I was breathing, how my lungs and throat burned.

" Here. Thought you might need this." Lawliet said, offering me a deliciously cold beverage that I could smell the aroma of.

" You hacked the system that time, and cut off the lasers." Was the first thing I told him after the burning subsided.

" I did." He nodded.

" You were waiting here for me?"

" You were gone for awhile. I had a feeling you would need assistance in escaping." I looked out the window and saw everything flying by. I was safe. I had been scared for my life that time. I had never felt so alive before.

" Are you alright?" L seemed honestly concerned at how I was reacting. I just smiled at him.

" I've never felt so alive before. It was amazing, really. Such a rush." I shook my head with my smile, but I just couldn't stop. I knew it was the adrenaline rushing back.

" Would you ever do it again?"

" No time soon. I would never be able to find something any better to distract me if I got used to that kind of adrenaline rush." I laughed.

" That's why you do it? The rush? Is it that great?" He tilted his head curiously, and I couldn't resist. I grinned, moved to a spot next to him, and got closer to his face.

" Maybe you need a taste to know what it's really like?" I whispered in his ear. He looked at me peripherally for a few seconds, and then he turned towards me with a look on his face I had never seen before.

" Maybe I do." He agreed with a smirk and pressed his lips to mine, shocking me beyond all reason. I never knew he could be so bold. His lips were so soft and warm... and he tasted so sweet. If it wasn't for my nerves going berserk I wouldn't have had the guts to kiss him back. When he pulled away he was watching my reaction. My eyes were slightly widened and my lips partially parted. A delayed blush turned my face bright red.

" You're right, it is something one can easily become addicted to." He mumbled. My face turned darker.

" How long were you sitting out here?" I wondered aloud after waiting awhile, so the question wouldn't seem like one used to get rid of an uncomfortable silence.

" Half an hour and five minutes." He answered precisely and quite calmly. I had forgotten how difficult it was for anything to seem awkward to him.

" You kept track?"

" Of course... I was concerned for your safety." He said in the same tone as when I had asked him the question before, but there was something different in his words. There was also something odd about the way he was looking at me. It was just an intent look. There seemed to be some sort of feeling in it now.

I didn't know if this was a bad thing or a good thing, but I think it was a good thing because it made me kind of... happy, maybe? Strange as it may ( or may not) seem, I really think it did. Unless somehow it was the drink I was drinking making me feel drugged ( which I highly doubted...kinda).

All in all... I was exhausted and tired from this workout. So I did the only thing I could think to do.

I fell asleep.

XCXCXCXCXCXCXCXCXCXC

Sorry I had to do this but there was no way I was going to go through all that work to just fix a chapter...unless theres an easier way than replacing the rest until the end. I'm too lazy and too busy.


	15. Bipolar Marshmellows

Enjoy the story and I DON'T OWN DEATH NOTE! Review if you want.

Slices of Rum Cake

Lawliet's POV

I looked beside me to find Masumi asleep while in my prescence for the first time ( cause those other times could've been faked by her hacking his cameras). Her head was almost resting on my shoulder, her skin tight cap was pulled back revealing the messy hair of her wig and her flushed cheeks. Masumi's lips were ever so slightly parted as she breathed. I downcasted my gaze from her face to the floor of the limo and then to the window of it. It was raining now. Drop after drop distorting my view of the city outside. I glanced at the softly snoozing woman beside me and noticed just how vulnerable and peaceful she looked. I wondered just how ethereal she'd look if she wasn't wearing that diguise of hers. Deciding to just let her sleep on the way home, at least, I rested my head on my knees facing her. Remembering when I first started this case and when I first met her told me that she had been living two... only slightly different lives. I would make sure that she didn't have to do that anymore and that she could use her talents for reasons more advantageous to the side of justice.

She had gotten her revenge, at last. What did this mean for her now? I mean, she no longer has a reason to need a distraction, right? I would have to talk to her after she woke up from her well deserved slumber.

Late the Next Morning with Masumi

The ruffling of blankets and sheets broke the silence of the room as the young woman occupying the bed turned to lay on her back. Her vest, shorts, and shoes had been removed making her sleep more comfortable as well as not leaving much to ones imagination since all that covered her was a black full body suit that fit her like a second skin. She opened her eyes and sighed, her eyes adjusting to the light in the room that came through uncurtained windows on the right side of the bedroom. Four evenly spaced large windows.

Suddenly, she sat up and looked about her in alarm, searching for any sort of danger. Then her muscles relaxed and she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. Masumi recognized the area to be another bedroom of her floor ( she had gone through all of them in search of the one with the nicest and largest kitchen). When she looked down at herself she realized that she was virtually naked, and blushed violently and began to search for her other articles of clothing unremittingly with her tawny bedsheet wrapped around her as cover. She wasn't going to think about who had removed said peices of clothing at this point in time... at least not until she was wearing decent clothes. The sheet appeared to be some sort of gown length towel on her the way she was holding it.

' Where are they? They should be in here.' She thought in a building panic until she stopped and grasped the concept of just finding clothes in general. She checked the wardrobe in her room again, and felt like slapping herself for not thinking of this sooner. She had never woken up so out of it before. Masumi tended to be a morning person ( although preferred to be nocturnal), but this was the first time she had ever acted so farcially.

That's about the time she figured it was because she knew she was being watched by L. When she thought of that images from the night before popped into her head, and she was blushing madly all over again from her spot on the floor of her closet, where her clothes had been hung. Upon seeing this she sat the annoyed at herself for not being able to identify this little detail earlier. Then she stood up, picked out her clothes, and proceeded to the bathroom, tossing the sheet hapharzardly onto her bed on her way to it. While reaching for the zipper on the back of her suit she stopped and looked at the camera in the upper right corner of the bathroom, blinked a few times to register the fact that it was there, and then she glared at it. Almost stomping towards it, she stepped onto the lid of the toilet seat and then the part on the back of it so she could reach it.

" Masumi-san, what are you doing?" Made her squeak and jump. The voice was, after all, the only noise she had heard all day.

" Good morning, L-san." She said nervously.

" I believe you are unaware that it is 3 in the afternoon, but in you case, yes, good morning to you as well, Masumi-san. Now could you please tell me what you are planning to do to my camera?"

" Just disconnect it for about 3 minutes?" Masumi stated/asked with a smile as she was already working on them.

" Could you stop doing that? I have already seen you with out your disguise and I am the only one aside from you in this building." Now this made her pause.

" What about the others?" She questioned.

" Watari is dealing with private matters that have come up at Whammy's, Light has been sent back to prison, and Yagami along with the other officers are on a little vacation."

I know he heard the clicks and static sounds... not to mention saw the newly screwed up picture... correction, lack of picture entirely.

" So, you mean we're alone?" Her question was innocent but it was just to be used as a distraction... that didn't work.

" You know this and yet you still do that." He muttered.

" Yes, well, that one wasn't conveniently placed for my privacy like you say the other one was." She smirked to the voice monitor in her bathroom as she removed her contacts, wig and suit.

" My intentions are not perverse, Masumi-san." He lightly defended.

" You know to those of us that aren't the number one genius detective in the world, may not be able to believe that. I doubt Misa supported your methods of supervision." Masumi smiled as she got dressed. It was moving into Spring, so the weather was warm enough for her to wear a clothes that weren't heavy.

" I will admit that you are right. Misa Amane called me a pervert on more than one occassion during the Kira case." This did not surprise Masumi as she rewired the camera.

" That wasn't enough?" She giggled, and then her stomach growled, making her stop. Masumi couldn't believe that she had completely forgotten to eat something. She knew she often forgot sleep, but for her to forget was a rarity. She was, after all, a pastry chef. Instead of frekaing out about it, she walked out of the room and into the hallway, heading towards the elevator. The pain in her stomach wasn't that bad, so she could make a few things before she ate. For some reason or other, the usually constantly working girl didn't feel as though she she craved work as much as usual, though the crave for constantly having something to do was still there and quite strong.

" What's wrong? Something appears to be bothering you." Lawliet's voice interrupted her thoughts after she walked through the doors eager to get to the kitchen. With a smile on her face that hopefully gave him some hint that he was being clueless again, she gladly gave him an explanation.

" I slept until 3 in the afternoon, woke up without sufficient clothes, and have yet to eat." She was about to go on, but he stopped her.

" That's not it. Something is different, and it has hardly anything to do with those things you've listed off... in fact, whatever has changed is more than likely the real cause of what you mentioned." L told her, and she was taken aback at the suggestion.

" Then what, may I ask, do you believe the ' real' reason for my strange behavior to be?" She questioned while walking to the kitchen.

" I'm not sure yet, but, whatever it is... it could be the same reason behind you forgetting to wear your disguise... since I know that wouldn't warm to the idea of being without it so easily." Masumi froze at that, looking in the first refelctive surface she could find. He was right, she had taken off her disguise while in the bathroom but had forgotten the place it back.

' This better not screw with my work.' She seethed as she started making a chocolate cake and a lemon one. Then, while they were in the oven, she had a decent breakfast of toast and scrambled eggs. When she saw L enter the room, she felt herself become self conscious again, out of habit, and things that went on last night didn't help. This kitchen felt more like hers than her own house.

" You may continue working at your shop if you want at your regular time... after tomorrow so that you do not seem suspicious. You could just tell them that you got very sick." It seemed that he wanted her to be more comfortable with her lack of ' protection', and the fact that he treated her no differently than usual helped as well.

" You going to let me work even after you find a new case?" She asked, almost spitefully at the new thought have having to take orders from someone not much older than her.

" Yes, unless it puts you at the risk of your life. Like that last one had the potential of doing." L replied, muttering the last part as he took a seat at the table while she made coffee...all in all seeming unperturbed by her remark.

Masumi took the cakes out of the oven and decorated them until the coffee was done. She simply set the frosting down ( telling L not to touch it), and poured L and herself a cup. After putting about 10 sugar cubes in his as well as just enough cinnamon vanilla creamer that she had recently purchased. She put a spoon in it, and set it down for him to do as he wished with it as she put a caramel creamer in hers as well as 6 sugar cubes, mixing it together. With a small sip, she set it down, and continued with the decoarating of the cakes, until she heard a rather loud slurp from behind her. Pausing only for a minute, she then continued with her task, remembering that it was L. Masumi was well enough adapted to his quirks, so any new ones were no surprise to her.

" I wasn't going to ask, but I noticed your almost ritualistic once a month 5 hour sort of meditation. If you wouldn't mind telling me what it's all about..." He seemed to have lost his thought, but Masumi knew what he meant.

" It's to keep my sense of hearing keen. You could call it a ritual kind of thing, but it's more tradition than ritual. My mother trained my hearing that way from a young age, and even advised me to use different mixtures of things genres that I liked to make it more difficult."

" I see... so it is useful." L said softly as he sipped his coffee again. Masumi wondered if it was really a quirk of his that he didn't realize, or if he was purposely doing that to see if he could get a reaction out of her. Unfortunately, she knew it was the first as L _would_ be that clueless... as much of a genius as he was, such was not to be overlooked. No one should ever be underestimated or overestimated. A setback to that saying ( that her own mother had told her) was that she had done just that to the detective before her. Not only that but she had a crush on him to futher her occassional discontent.

She heard him set down his coffee mug, and her ear almost twitched.

" I think that your self given need for revenge was what drove you so inhumanly to meet your goals and do what you were born to do so well. In my opinion, your actions this morning were ones caused by a sense of inner freedom. The fact that you no longer feel the need to have your revenge makes you relieved and anxious at the same time. You no longer know what to strive for, so it drives you to do things that are out of your character." His perception of her made her more uneasy than the fact that she wasn't wearing a disguise. The fact that she knew wearing a disguise would not help around this man just made her feel that much more like a glass doll. She didn't let him see how much this truth affected her.

" You know...Lawliet-san, you really are socially challenged." Was all Masumi said back to childish man who, at the time, was engrossed in his sweet coffee.

" You think so?" He questioned, setting it down, and she just nodded.

" Oh, what sort of creamer is this? It's delicious." L said as he continued to loudly slurp his caffinate drink.

" Cinnamon Vanilla." She replied quietly, though loud enough for him to hear her. It was also one of her own favorites, but for reasons aside from it being a heavenly addition to her coffee.

" You should really just take this time to relax and try getting back into your usual habits... since you have your other job now. It'll be awhile until we find another case that's difficult enough to interest me." L explained as though he was trying to cheer her up. To the part time thief/part time pastry chef it was a rather odd attempt.

Though for some strange reason it seemed to get her calm all over again, and for the rest of the day, they were both in the kitchen. Masumi making her sweets and L sitting in his seat, drinking his coffee, and eating the occassional snack that she would place in front of him. She was using him as a taste tester, but he didn't seem to mind.


	16. Catching Butterfingers

Heya, here's #17. enjoy!I don't own Death Note!

Catching Butterfingers

About a month later

If you've ever been interrupted while doing something that needs your full and undivided attention then you know how I felt when I was on my last hour of meditation playing a mixture of Voltaire's Goodnight Demonslayer and Edvard Grieg's Arabian Dance on full blast while listening to every word of an episode of Spongebob Squarepants... until I heard him.

" Masumi-san, please get to the main floor, I have a case I want you to look at."

Yes, I actually heard it, but my training required the full 5 hours. If I stopped I would have to start all over again from the first hour ( that's how she had been taught). I just continued on with my training for almost a minute, until... he tried again.

" Masumi-san, I know you can hear me. If you can hear the television 2 yards in front of you at a volume of 8, then you can hear me."

' Doesn't mean, I'm moving.' I thought as I stayed perfectly still, listening to the rest of the episode where it would then move to another channel and some other show would come on.

" Masumi-san, this is your last chance." Lawliet warned on the intercom that boomed around my room. Then there was nothing but my technological appliances...was it just me or was the volume of my songs getting quieter? Then the TV turned off while Two and a Half Men was airing. Another second later all my tech was shut down. I sat there frozen with anger that could have burned this place to the ground. Yes, I was going to have to do this all over again later, and, no I didn't want to, but... I this new feeling of rebellion in me now and so I stayed on the floor in my living room, in that same spot, sitting the same way I did almost every time, with my eyes shut. Then I waited patiently for his reaction.

" Don't be so stubborn." He muttered, and I held back a remark that would how furious I was. When he didn't say anything else, and I thought I had won this little battle of wills, I grabbed the remote and flicked on the tele. When it actually turned on, was the thing that made me believe that I had truly won. My computers flicked back on and everything. This made me happy.

After five or so minutes of continueing my episode of Two and a Half Men, I felt pretty good about myself, until there was a knock on my door. It was quiet, yes, but I heard it. They knew I heard it too(because they continued to...incessantly knock for an entire minute). Then it just stopped...until I heard a key in the door, and then I looked around for a way out or a place to hide.

Lawliet's POV

Working with people that didn't like being told what to do was tiring. I had never known this to be so true since I had never had the luck of finding one so utterly difficult to work with...until now. Right now I was on her floor of the building with the key, trying to unlock the door.

For the past month I had left her alone( aside from the occassional friendly chatter), and never once bothered her with a case ( he hadn't found a decent one that interested him until now), so why was she being so childish now? I knew she was meditating and was probably going to be a little upset at my intrusion, but did she really have to take it this far?

I finally get the door open, only to step into an empty room.

' I should have been expecting this.' I mused as I scanned the room for any sign of the woman. The other members of the task force were back to living at home with their families, and working as Tokyos police. We still kept in contact, but that was through my usual way. They had said that if there were any cases that they felt would catch my interest they would inform me, and that is what they did today, but I was not counting on having to play hide and seek with the one person aside from Watari still in this building.

' Then again I wasn't really counting on her being ready to drop whatever she was doing and actually listen to me either.' I added. Stepping farther into the room I saw all her appliances on again, making it difficult for me to hear any noise she might have made or was making. I walked over to the TV and turned it off, doing the same to the computers in her room.

That's when the door closed behind me. I sighed, and turned towards the door... finding no one, but having the strangest feeling that she was still somewhere on this floor.

' Where is she?' I asked myself as I looked around the room again. That's when I heard footsteps that are usually not heard. Turning again, I saw her sitting on the back on of the couches in the room, glowering at me.

" There you are. Now is not the time for games, you may continue your meditation later." I told her, and she lifted one dainty brow at me.

" I have to start over from the first hour later, Lawliet." She informed.

" If you had told me this then I would've waited for your session to end before I called you up to the main floor. I apologize for interrupting your training, but you are at fault for this predicament."

" Why didn't you just bring the case with you when you came down here?" She quipped with a smirk, her facial expressions changed pretty quickly, and I found that over time she had become more accustomed to not wearing her contacts or wig while around me and even Watari. At one point I had noticed that her pupils themselves were not black, but a really dark red. She had told me that her mother had trained her at an early age to use her sight for night more than day,, and in the morning to use her other senses more, which had fascinated me because I had never heard of such things before.

" I wasn't expecting to have to come down here." I explained with a shrug and she shook her head, smiled and hopped down from her spot, walking past me. The sudden grip on my wrist surprised me as she started to drag me to the elevator until I began walking on my own accord, when I realized she had finally agreed to listen to me and look over the case herself.

" So, what is it?" She asked.

" What do you mean?" I questioned back.

" A mob boss? Murderer?Another thief? What?" She rephrased.

" Oh, well, it's an arsonist." I filled in. She looked at me wide eyed.

" You took the case of an arsonist?" Masumi seemed a bit irate.

" I haven't exactly chosen to take the case just yet... I wanted you to look it over first." I searched her face for a reaction to this, and she tilted her head to the side slightly. Then she glanced at me.

" Do you have any photos of the places he's destroyed? Do you have _any _information on them?" I was about to say something before she added." And not things that aren't proven facts about this person. I mean things like gender, age, height, weight, race, feature colors... things like that." She paused for a bit, scrutinizing me with narrowed pinkish eyes. It's a lot more intimidating than it might sound.

" Do you usually just set up an approximate answer in order to find suspects?Is...is that how you found me? Are you telling me that you were just following what made the most sense first?Guesses?_That's_ how you became the number one detective in the world?" As an answer I just nodded and walked out of the elevator towards my survailence cameras.

" That's one way of saying it, but then after making those guesses I find proof of their being guilty." She shook her head, and walked into the kitchen with quick and long strides. I let her, considering I felt she needed to blow off some steam. Best part was I'd be getting something out of it. I was in the mood for some cake. Knowing that it was wrong to sometimes purposely mess with her so that she would feel more driven to make me sweets may not sound like the best way to get a snack, but it is very necessary in order for me to make my hypothesis accurately. I suppose this made it a ' necessary evil'.

Masumi busted through the kitchen doors, cradling a bowl of what I thought to be cake mix, stirring it vigorouslyas she walked over to the table with pictures of the burnt down houses. When she suddenly stopped stirring, her eyes wide with shock... and then nealry ran back into the kitchen. Not used to her behaving in such a way, I stood up and walked over to the table again. My eyes on the kitchen door as I leafed through the pictures, spreading them around. Not even a minute later I was walking towards the kitchen. Masumi was everywhere, making, baking, and decorating at a pace I had never seen before.

" One escaped." I said simply, and she froze, but shakily set what she was stirring down, and turned to me.

" He knows me." She muttered, but I caught it.

" What was that?" Her eyes snapped to me.

" Lawliet, this guy _knows_ me. He knew my father, or my mother... or even worse _both_ and... and he's been watching me, stalking me even. Every house I ever broke into is on there so far... are those pictures in chronological order of when they occurred?" She looked like she was going to throw up. I had never seen anyone quite as disturbed as I saw Masumi now. This must be the real her. The one that no longer wants revenge anymore, but now just wants to get rid of anything that had to do with the death of her parents.

" How many people do you know knew you father or mother from that organization? He's burnt down 2 houses. Are you sure they are the same-"

" I memorized ever centimeter of every house I ever stole from during the time I started being an actual thief. I don't know how many people from that organization knew me, but it isn't a techie, these fires are sloppy and uncalculated..." I placed a hand on her shoulder.

" Try to calm down, Masumi-san. He doesn't know where you live. If he was a murderer can't we just check the records?" Her head was shaking back and forth so forcefully that I took a step back and felt like grabbing her face before her head shook itself from her shoulders.

" T-they were destroyed when the organization's system basically self destructed and tore itself apart. The only things that were destroyed were the files of the assassins. We're looking for one of them, but he's one of the most dangerous because he's cocky, angry, and very very studied in the little career I've made out of stealing. He ' killed' the people that were living in those homes, Lawliet. I don't kill people. If he finds me or if we screw up..." She ran to the trashcan and threw up. I figured she wasn't used to seeing actual bodies of people. That answered my question to whether or not she had a strong stomach for this kind of thing. I probably should have hid those or thrown them out.

" I'm sorry you had to see those." Honestly meaning it as I got a rag from a cabinet, wetted it, and walked over to her. Crouching down, I lifted her face, and carefully dabbed her skin with it. Then I tossed the rag in the sink, got a glass of water and some chocolate and handed her both after she stood up.

" This will help." Masumi looked at me and then at the offering in my hands, and accepted them politely. I noticed she was still shaking. She was probably reminded of her parents because she didn't usually react this way to anything else( actually now that he thought about it... this was worse than anything she had probably seen).

" Making some pastries will help." The distracted woman muttered as she handed me a bowl of gummi candies.

" Start working on that case, and by the time you're finished with those... I should have about a cart or so worth of sweets made." She smiled then before washing her hands. When she looked back at me, she motioed to the door.

" Go on. Go get some work done. I want this guy gotten rid of as soon as possible. I've never been so disgusted in my life." She practically shooed me out of my own kitchen that she had taken over the day she had come here. Not that I minded much considering that I knew she would hold up her end if I walked out.

Soon enough, while I was on one of the computers in the main room, finishing off the last gummi bear Watari pushed a cart into the room. It had such a variety I almost didn't know where to start first. Then, after grabbing some homemade pocky, I turned back to the computer.

' It isn't likely that they will go after her directly until they're done burning the houses she's stolen from in the past. That's...plenty of time to catch him from where we're at now. Unless he burns a house down every day, which he thankfully doesn't. Seems like his pattern is about once a week or so. We have quite some time left then... unless he turns around and starts burning them down sooner than once a week.'

For some reason I couldn't get the image of her scared face out of my mind. Hopefully he wouldn't show up at her work tomorrow... if she wasn't going to sell it or just stop going until things lightened up again and we caught him.

An hour or so later

" I'm still going to work tomorrow, Lawliet." The woman beside me stated tempestuously.

" Are you sure that's a good idea?" I interjected without looking away from the computer screen in front of me.

" If he knows me and doesn't see me at my shop regularly, he might catch on that I know something. We can't let him find out what we know so far." She spouted. Masumi had a very good point.

" You are the one he is targeting, but you are also how we can get him to show himself. Start by trying to pay more attention to the male consumer's of your shop. Sooner or later, you'll be able to spot him. I'm sure of it." I explained, and she looked at me with a nod.

" How do you know I'll recognize him?"

" You've succeeded in spotting murderers like Yagami Light before. I trust your judgement." I saw a curtain of white hair temporarily obstruct my view of my monitors, and then a warm sensation on my forehead. When I turned Masumi was already back in the kitchen. I just guessed that was her way of saying 'thank you' when she didn't feel like saying it.

I didn't realize I was smiling until a few minutes later.


	17. Calm as Cake

Hey, yeah, I've been trying to get these chapters out as fast as possible. I hope you like them. Reviews are welcome. i don't own Death Note!XD

Calm as Cake

Masumi's POV

A week later

I hated this. I didn't even feel safe at my shop and felt that at any moment things would go up in smoke. It wasn't that I was afraid of fire... I was afraid of being burned alive, and losing everything my parents had left me and the only things I had left of them.

L was so sure that this guy wanted me, but what if they wanted him instead? Maybe they knew I lived with L now, and that L knew the houses I had stolen from... maybe they would just find some way to kidnap me or something like that in order to get L to join them and rebuild their ornganization and its goal to take over Tokyo.

I was at my shop now, and L had brought a laptop with him and was in the back doing what he does. Everyday for the past week he's been there thinking, eating sweets, and solving problems that dealt mostly with crime. Now that I though about it I hardly ever saw him sleep. He was worse than me, but that was because I usually only needed a few hours of sleep. That's what working with L while I was already having sleeping problems has reduced me to. It was kind of nice, though, considering this was almost the same as when him and I were both human beings that just hung out and worked together at my shop. The only difference is that now L is watching the cameras I had originally set up around the shop to prevent thefts ( hahahahaha), but he was watching for unusual behavior in a shop.

" Aneko!" My first thought was that it was Nanayo, and I wasn't all that surprised when I got glomped by her.

" Nana-chan. It's been awhile." I smiled.

" More like forever!Did you get sick?Were you almost dying?"

" I was sick in a way that could cause my customers to get sick if I went to work." I lied, weasling my way out of that one just barely because Nanayo only let things like that be the reason I was gone, or else it wasn't good enough and she would get at me for something else.

" Well, fine then, as long as your not hiding anything from me." She winked knowingly. I narrowed my eyes at her.

" What are you implying, Nana-chan?" The young teen tossed her hand around at me like she was brushing me off.

" Please, like your not hiding your boyfriend in there so that you stay in good business." Was her accusing remark. It dinged in my head that that would be the kind of thing a person like Nanayo would think after seeing even a glimpse of somebody in the back room of my shop.

" Ryuuga-kun works with me, Nana-chan, he often times takes over at the register when I'm making more stuff." I explain.

" It's _that_ guy?" She seemed puzzled.

" What do you mean?" I questioned. Lawliet was my friend so typically I wasn't going to understand right off the bat that others often times saw him as...odd.

" He presses the keys strange, is always eating something you made, he holds stuff in a weird way, he looks like he hasn't slept all his life, and he doesn't even dress professionally." Nanayo listed. Listening to her I had forgotten that I had never really had a problem with his quirks in the first place. In truth, they actually intrigued me more than anything. Looking at Nanayo, though, and knowing what she would think and say about that... I don't think it was a good idea saying anything about that fact. So, I kept my mouth shut.

" Also." Nanayo started to add something, snapping me out of my daze of realizational musing and dragging me back to reality." There's something about the way he looks at you." She muttered ponderously as she tried to put her finger on it, and I hardly knew if she was talking to me or to herself anymore.

" Nanayo, the whole time he's been here he's been looking at everyone that way. I've known him for awhile ( best not to explain how) and that's just how he looks at people." Nanayo shook her head defiantly.

" No, there's something different about the way he looks at you. Like...like he'll be talking to someone in the shop and helping them find something, and then you'll pass by with a cake or some other snacky-deliciousness-from-God and I notice the way he looks at you is different from how he was looking at the person he was talking to." She attempted to explain. It made me smirk when I though.

' He was probably looking at the cake. He would do something like that.' I could even picture his mind going back and forth throughout the shop, searching for the most strawberry filled thing I had.

" Ummm, Nana-chan, were you sure he was looking at me and not whatever ' snacky-deliciousness-from-God' I had in my hands? He has a thing for my cooking, you know." I patted her on the head.

" I know you've been through a lot of shit, Masu-chan, but that doesn't mean you need to do things like that to yourself. He doesn't look at you like the other creeps in here do because they're typical guys... unless they're gay and don't look at you like that, but that's besides the point. All I'm saying is that maybe you could consider that he doesn't just like the things you make." I suddenly blushed flashbacking on a number of occassions where Lawliet said something that could be thought of like that.

He has pretty much said that he likes me, but I'm afraid of believing it because he still doesn't know things like where I have the money in my house hidden. Even the greatest detective in the world has some evil to him, and L's is that he knows how people usually think and react, which is something he would be likely to take advantage of and use...if he already hasn't before. I know I was just using that to give me a reason to kind of push him away, but this was actually something I could see him doing. It was a trap if I tell him where the money is because if I do that not only does it make me Whisper, but if I get bored with being here ( which she highly doubted would be the case considering L wasn't exactly the easiest person to get bored of), or even need to leave here to start a new life and stuff somewhere else I wouldn't be able to. With what he knows and everything; I'd be stuck here...

When I really thought about it, I couldn't help but question whether or not stuck here was the right way of saying it. I personally believe that it was possible I was just afraid of trusting someone, getting too comfortable being around them ( or with them), and then some evil thing (once again), out of nowhere pops into my life and ruins it for me. This time leaving me with nothing and nowhere else to go. This made the most sense to me since we were dealing with a very personal case. A messy arsonisty assassin with a knack for my theft work ( or whatever he was after) was stalking me... no, _had_ been stalking me ever since I had started my life as a thief (if not sooner, which was something I don't think anyone wants to think about) and now he was slowly erasing it by going over there and finishing what I had started ( exception being she had no wish to harm or kill anyone, it wasn't her style). We didn't even know what he was really after.

" Masumi-san, I don't think stopping in the middle of an aisle and staring at the ceiling with a thoughtful look on your face is going to assisst us with this matter." L's voice broke into my thoughts, and I jumped back reflexively. He just stood in the same spot as before, licking the frosting off of a cupcake.

" Don't do that... and if you keep eating what I make then how am I suppose to make any profit?" He thought about it.

" Well, you could always use your stash money, which, judging by the prices you have on these cakes and other pastries and how much they cost, might just be what you've been doing ever since you've bee working both here and at you opther job before you started working with me." He said simply, and I darted my eyes around the shop to find no one.

" No one else is here, Masumi-san, I really must insist that you calm down and trust that I wouldn't mention such matters in public. One of your regulars, which I assume is also a friend of yours saw you staring off into space for the second time and didn't know how to you get out of it, and so I decided to step in and help you out by telling her that you've been very busy and you were just worrying about other things going on in your life ( which wasn't that much of a lie) and she bought her things and left. It seems that the conversation between you two was very thought provoking on your end." When he finished licking all the frosting off of the cupcake, he practically ate the whole thing in one bite. Then he turned around and started walking back to the back room when he stopped and looked over his shoulder at me." It makes me very curious as to what you were thinking about at both times, but if you do not feel comfortable with telling then all I can really say is that I agree with the last sentence Miss Nanayo stated before you got lost in your thoughts." Then he disappeared behind the back room doors, leaving me with a blush on my face so red, the next customer that came in was worried I was getting sick again. I smiled at him, helped him out, but I couldn't really focus on what was going on. It was like I was on autopilot as I was thinking over what Lawliet had said... what was the last sentence Nanayo had spoken before I had so rudely zoned out before we could finish our conversation?

_" I know you've been through a lot of shit, Masu-chan, but that doesn't mean you need to do things like that to yourself. He doesn't look at you like the other creeps in here do because they're typical guys... unless they're gay and don't look at you like that, but that's besides the point. All I'm saying is that maybe you could consider that he doesn't just like the things you make." _And out of that...the last sentence.

_"All I'm saying is that maybe you could consider that he doesn't just like the things you make."_ I blushed again, making the man beside me ask me if something was wrong for the second time, saying he was worried I was still sick. I assured him that I was fine and that he could find the boxes filled with chocolate ( he said he wanted to get one for his wife... they had gotten into a fight) in the next aisle.

After I chatted with him a little bit to find what he and his wife liked and he bought the stuff he was gonna get... he left and I walked into the backroom to wash my face off.

Looking at my reflection I thought about what was bothering me today. I didn't like relationships... all my life they got in my way. No matter if it was school, work ( both versions of it), or anything else. Not to mention the fact that usually they were in it for something other than just trying to find someone you like and be with for the rest of you life. Most usually wanted money, power, or just to fuck with you until you had somehow destroyed yourself without really even knowing it until it was too late. I found this to be a little funny considering that was something people wouldn't even think twice about doing if they were in love. They would just do it because... well, no real sensical reason aside from the fact that they were in love.

In other words... love blinds people and I don't need that. My eyesight is impaired bad enough as it is. Whether it's a night vision goggles or regular morning, it doesn't matter, because if the lights too bright I go blind for minutes on end somtimes ( depending on the brightness, of course). Dragging my hand through my now slightly damp white hair, I considered what it would be like falling for and having a relationship with someone I was working for and with. It's not that I've never considered it before now or anything, it was just that the only thing that really seemed to interest him was sweets and solving interesting cases. If something didn't interest him then he left it to the cops or whoever was dealing with it, and moved on in search of something better. Like with the BB case, the KIRA case, and even my own. I knew that he would continue doing this on and on until there were no more left, and he knew as well as I did that cases like this would never really run out, but simply just take more time to show up over time and the world. The thought of working with him like this wasn't that bad to me. I got to do what I liked as well as what kept me busy... I had my own floor of this mutated-huge-like-a-weddng-cake-on-crack building. My own FLOOR. Now I know that to some people this wouldn't be a big deal, but when you are accused of being a criminal ( and actually are one) and the guy you work with (and for) is still looking for proof of your being guilty, and he gives you your own floor to do what you will with it... it's really sort of baffling in the end.

" Are you ready to go home now, Masumi-san?" Lawliet asked after I closed the door to the bathroom in the back room of the shop. Peering at him around the towel I had eating my face alive, I smiled, and tossed it onto the counter of the back room kitchen.

" You could really live in this place, couldn't you?" He questioned as he looked around again before we left.

" Yeah, I guess you could, but it's not advisable." I scratched my neck.

" Why not? Is there something wrong with it?" He asked, and I shook my head.

" No, you'd just eat all my cakes and stuff if you lived here." I grinned, and he smiled slightly back. He was just too cute when he made faces like that. We walked out of the shop to find it raining as though God was shooting waterguns with angels. Safe to say it was maddening when one was wearing a white top of any kind. Especially when they were female. Yes, in this case it _was_ me.

Of course, I didn't notice this at first, but when the detective you're walking to a limo with doesn't look at you when usually he's eyeing you like a hawk just waiting for you to slip up... it kind of makes you wonder if you have something on you face or if you have a stain...or in this case if your shirt is soaked through. Of course I didn't have a coat to cover myself with… so I opted for just covering myself with my hands until we got to the car and L handed me a towel to help me out, and so I wrapped it around me and got snug( it was a big towel). My face may have been red, cold, and wet… but I was getting warmed up curled in that towel as though it was a thick white blanket of security.

" You should be more aware of the possible weather." He scolded lightly… even though his shirt was wet ( and white!) too, but he was a guy. While I dried off, I looked at him, and noticed that as underweight as he was, he had muscle, not a lot, but a lot tended to bother me… scare me even. He had a lean build and it was actually very attractive because it suited him. Catching myself in this, I hid my face in my towel, and then picked another one up that I saw and covered his head with it, which he didn't seem to be expecting ( who would?). It feel from his face, and he was wide eyed in shock, and I couldn't help but giggle.

" And you should worry more about not getting a cold." I retorted. L gave me a look that made me look at him curiously in return.

" What is it?" I asked him with a gentle smile. He got slightly closer and moved his hand up to my face. I would have flinched if it was any other guy, but all he did was lightly brush his fingers over my lips. The feeling of it was foreign to me, and so I just stiffened, wondering what he would do next.

Watari was in the front driving, and there was no way for him to hear us or for us to hear him unless we rolled down that window in between us.

" I have never worked with such a difficult person." I heard him mutter as he removed his fingers from my lips, where they had lingered for just a moment too long. I saw what he had touched me in the first place after he licked it off his finger. Before I left the shop with him I had locked up the back room and grabbed the last lemon tart from a plate. Crumbs or some of the lemon filling had probably stuck itself to my face without me noticing it. I felt his eyes watching my reaction differently than usual, and I hid my face in my towel again.

Wriggling around in the fluffy blanket-like liquid absorber I still felt cold after awhile and it bothered me because that usually only meant one thing.

L's POV

Describing such a bizarre sound as the one I just heard wasn't easy. She had muffled her sneeze in a towel, but it was still obvious that the pitch wasn't natural… nor the normal volume. It was a high sound that sounded like a mouse squeaking not too far from your ear, but I thought it to be adorable to the point where I couldn't hide my slight smile. Then she started hiccupping.

" Great." I heard her mumble, and then while I was watching her, I noticed that she had closed her mouth tightly. She would jump as though she had been startled, and I knew that this wasn't normal.

" I something wrong?" At this question, Masumi shook her head and afterwards jumped again. She had a case of the hiccups that lasted for awhile.

" Hic-cups, L, hic just hiccups hic." Surprising myself I started chuckling.

" What's hic so funny?" She attempted to look seriously angry, but her hiccups made her fail miserably. Her face was red but not in the embarrassed way. Adding the rain, sneeze, and red face together I put my hand on her forehead.

" Masumi-san, I think you should worry more about your own health than mine… considering that you're the one more likely to get sick."

" Have you been researching my defect?" The sick woman narrowed her pink topaz eyes at me again. Then sneezed again. This made me curious.

" Yes, actually. Do you get the hiccups with sneezing instead of coughing when you're sick?" As odd as it sounded I was willing to believe it. Having seen many a strange thing in the past 5 or so years it wouldn't be all that hard.

Looking over at her to see why she wasn't answering, I found her to be asleep curled up in the softness of the towel. I sighed at this. She was even hiccupping in her sleep. Every once in awhile a small hic sound would shake her body but never once woke her. When we got back I got out, went to the other side of the car, and lifted her out just like last time. Then I carried her inside with Watari holding an umbrella over me and the thief in my arms.

When I got to her floor, I once again went to the same room as last time, and laid her on her bed.

" Watari, call the lady from last time to change her out of her wet clothes , and into something more sleep appropriate." My soft order was answered with a nod as Watari already had his phone out.

Before she arrived, I made sure that Masumi's face was dry and I removed her wig as well this time. The people that I called favors for never asked questions and were good at keeping secrets, so I doubted that Masumi would mind even at this point.

I was slightly angry at myself for not taking one of the umbrellas that was provided in the bin at Masumi's shop out with me. Knowing of how prone she was to illness as she was albino, I should have brought something. Glancing down at her, I moved a strand of her hair that had fallen onto her face after I had taken off her wig. She was much more vulnerable than she let on sometimes.

Then the woman walked in and I was out of the room before she could boot me out like last time.

I really wished that she would stop worrying about how she felt about me. Someone like me doesn't need to be loved back we just want to be around them...in this case her. I knew this was more than likely what she was thinking about in her discussion with Nanayo.

Thought the thought of her possibly loving me back in itself... made me curious. I sighed.

' I guess I was right about my feelings too. If you really have been hurt in the past... I'll wait.' Then just, like that I went back to the main floor and started searching for more on this new case. The Arson case... and in doing so spent my waiting time doing my work. While I was searching for a way of progressing the case, I would often times check Masumi's camera to see if she had woken up. Everytime, she was still curled underneathe the tan blankets... tossing and turning every now and then. I hoped she got better soon.


	18. Genetic Issues

Genetic Issues With a Hint of Hershey's Kisses on the Side

Masumi's POV

Waking up in the same bed as the last time you fell asleep in a car and finding yourself almost naked yet again usually starts to make you wonder who was responsible for changing your clothes. Well, I'm no different. I woke up with a wet rag on my forehead, no wig, and a black night gown that went all the way to my ankles. It was such a detailed peice, and yet... I felt a little self-conscious with the generous amount of cleavage showing above the square hem that had a loosener/tightener that was in the form of dark purple veltet laces. The same went for the fact that it was transparent all over and the only way I didn't feel completely naked was because under it was a solid black night dress that stopped above the knees, but it had a lacey bodice that stopped at the same height as the transparent one. It was a two peice set sewn together. Puffed shoulders cinched off with the same color and fabric as the loosener/tightener, and around the hem of the sleeves and the hem on the transparents dress was solid black lining that flowed from the wrists to my finger tips...and it was covered with little purple bows. A woman had definitely dressed me up in this. One that probably thought of girls as dress up dolls. I walked into the closet and picked out a thin and dressy black coat and put it on, careful not to ruin the fabric of the gown. After finding that I still felt slightly uncomfortable, I buttoned the second and third buttons, and made sure it covered my rear as the gown seemed to mold to my form a little too nicely.

Normally I wouldn't care about wearing such things ( as she has probably mentioned in some way shape of form before) but I wasn't at home and their were cameras in my room here. I sneezed and it jarred my brain a bit... and then I started hiccuping again. Do you have any idea how much I despise being sick? I can't even hide it with how it shows on me. Any color on my face is obvious unless it's dark. I huffed and noticed the tray of soup and water on the bedside table.

I smiled, knowing that Watari must have brought it in. I also noticed that there was a chair on the left side of the bed, and wondered if Lawliet had actually stayed here at one point for one reason or another. I walked towards the door, and looked around the room again. It was probably the most beautiful one on my floor... that I could remember.

' Too bad it doesn't have a very large kitchen.' I thought as I waltzed out of the room. My own room had a huge kitchen and the bedroom was the third largest room in it... the living room being the second. In fact, I think the room I just left was as large as my living room and kitchen together.

I sneezed again, and it only made my hiccups worse. Huffing ( but not without a hiccup at the end) I eventually made it to the main floor. A headache had slowly been growing on my way there, and I was coldish again.

" You shouldn't be up here, Masumi-san. You are sick." L soflty murmured from his spot in front on the monitors.

" I'm hic fine."

" You sound drunk, your face is flushed when it is usually pale, and instead of it looking like your natural skin tone you seem more of a sickly pale. You've also been asleep for the past three days. I was growing rather worried. I still am and it is even more so since now you are exerting yourself just being here and not in bed." He scolded stoically. I sat on the couch defiantly and looked over at what he was doing. I couldn't see anything but a bright light emitting from his computer as I laid down on my back, looking up at the ceiling that reflected the glow of the computer L was at. My sense of sight had gotten even worse during my sickness, while my other senses were dulled. I even had a stuffy nose and my ears were ringing but I didn't care... I wanted to actually be useful here and maybe talking to him about how the case had progressed and whatever it meant could help us learn more about who this guy was.

" In case you are wondering it wasn't me that changed your clothes and bathed you when you needed it... Miss Mahiru did." L explained, and I nodded.

" I kinda peiced that together. Only a person, usually female, would ever dress a girl in something so detailed and feminine." I caught him turn his head to me out of my peripheral vision, but just barely. It was then I noticed my hiccups were gone.

" It looks good on you. Why the coat, though? Are you cold?" His curiosity was so innocent that it made me smile.

" Yes, and self conscious." I muttered in response.

" Why? You have no reason to be." When I heard this, my eyes snapped to him, and then my mind wandered to the fact that the camera in the bathroom of the room I was in was still connected and had been the whole time I was unconscious.

" Have you seen me naked?" Even my dagger throwing glare was weak.

" She only changed you in the bathroom and I kept that camera off... I figured that conscious or not you would still want to keep you dignity." This was the first time I had been glad I was sick in awhile, since my blush was hidden by my already rosy cheeks.

" I appreciate it. Thank you." My nearly inaudible murmur seemed to have been heard by him, and he nodded.

" May I ask why you came to this floor while ill?" He questioned. I decided to answer.

" Many reasons, Lawliet. One of them being that I would like to know how the case is going?"

" Well, it hasn't progressed very much, I'm afraid. You haven't been to your shop in awhile."

" When we finally solve this case. I'm selling my shop and keeping my house." My teeth were so sensitive that it hurt to grit them as I said those sentences.

" Because you still have your stolen money there or because it's the only thing you'd have left of your parents then?" I was too tired and crappy feeling to be angry.

" The later, of course." I flipppantly whispered. Then I stood up, and slowly with attempted steadiness made my way to the kitchen doors. I didn't make it far from the couch before I heard.

" Don't even think about it, Masumi-san. It is not wise for you to try cooking while you are in such a state. You can hardly walk." His statement bothered me and so I stubbornly continued. Not even five steps later I felt myself get picked up and I squeaked with shock. L was holding my bridal style and I could feel his body heat radiate from him to me.

" As much as I admire your will, Masumi-san, I will not let you over exert yourself. You need to stay in bed." Too weak to struggle, and too rebellious to let myself fall asleep, I stuck with just frowning as he, gently laid me back in my bed, and covered me with the sheets and blankets. He didn't walk away immediately... instead he got closer and hid his face in the curve of my neck. Without realzing it I inhaled sharply as his breath brushed my neck. The feeling was tantalizing.

" I want you to get better as soon as possible just as much as you do, but if you spend that time out of bed, I'm concerned that you might make things worse for yourself and that you will get worse." I turned my head to the other side trying to hide a blush he probably didn't know I had under the sickness causing heat of my face.

" Stay here." I heard myself boldly susurrate. He paused, and moved his head up from my neck. I could feel cold air rush to the area, and felt a pang of disappointment.

" What was that?" His inquiring tone urged me to answer.

" Bring your work here, and... and stay in with me until I get well enough to continue playing our new game." It was probably the most pathetic demand I had ever made, but I didn't want to be alone. I hated to be alone when I was sick. Another reason I had taken the time and energy to get to where he was. I became very needy, greedy, and dependent when I was sick.

Watching for a reaction on his expressionless face didn't help me until he leaned down again and kissed my forehead lightly.

" Very well, then." Was his reply before he walked into the bathroom and said something about bringing his stuff down to Watari. Before I fell asleep, I saw him in the chair I saw when I got up before.

L's POV

I saw in the chair to her left watching her as she slept. When Watari arrived with everything I needed and set it down at a table that I had moved from the dining room into the spaceous bedroom, I got a wash rag from the bathroom, folded it up, and placed it on her forehead. I got everything back to where I had it when I was upstairs and wondered how the unconcious girl in bed had convinced me so easily to stay here. The answer came back quickly and it was more of a reminder than anything. For the simple reason that I was in love with her.

Again and again, time after time I watched the camera footage of three days ago, and when I was able to match up his credit card and face to a name, I stopped.

" Novice..." Masumi must have forgotten about his face and everything. I mean, she had been talking to him awhile before she closed up shop with me that day. Not only was she sick, but this case already had her sickened from the moment she laid her eyes on the pictures involving the case. When she saw this, she was going to flip out so severely that it wasn't going to help her get better at all.

His real name was Edwin Callahan, and he had once been arrested for identity theft, forgery, fraud, and a number of other things that strangely did not seem to include arson. Quirky and evasive Masumi was going to have to stay ignorant of this information until she got better. What bothered me was the fact that he had acted so confidently around her as though he knew that she wasn't going to recognize him and her proving him right didn't help matters at all. He was cocky and arrogant, but professional at his game, since he didn't have a current residence that was known to his database. Meaning he was probably living out on the street or something, making it easier for him to go around, burn houses, and then find a place to hide as one of Tokyo's many homeless residents.

That wasn't even the worst part. The worst part was that he was talking to her, in her shop, knowing who she was and probably who I was and laughing in ourr faces that we had no proof that it was him. Evidence was a necessity in this case, and I was sure that sooner or later this man would either slip up... or Masumi and I would find some sort of evidence.

This had to be the worst possible time for Masumi to get sick... speaking of fake identities. I looked over to her once more, and tossed around the thought of looking up registered albinos in my database... mine held information that wasn't hacked and updated. I found the real people. When I was about to type in her current name I stopped.

I couldn't do it. There was this little voice in my head that seemed to be able to talk over the usual voice that was my own, and it was telling me not to look up her name. To wait until she was ready to tell me herself, and that otherwise she would feel betrayed and probably never want to be around me ever again. Masumi really was such a difficult person. The type of girl to smile in her sleep when she was having a nightmare. Tomorrow I was sure she would do something like that tomorrow... like suddenly seem to be just fine when it came to bringing up the Arson case that turned out to be Novice stalking her because when I really thought about it... I knew that she was going to find out this information on her own sooner or later ( more than likely sooner than would be best for her). Her mind worked too fast, autowired everything with a drive that could his fast acting computers to shame because she had basically been programmed at birth to do what she does today. A break from it wouldn't help her because her mind would be nagging at her to find something just like his had been when he first met her. It had told him, demanded him to find out her true identity and now she had somehow hacked his mind into reversing it in her favor, and now it was telling him that he shouldn't do it and that things would happen one way or another and he couldn't do shit about it.

This put a whole new meaning to thief. Masumi was a thief of money, and any other hidden things of value, but also... also she was talented in the ways of stealing from me my very train of thought. A thief that can hack and move so agily without making a sound. We were on the same team and yet I feel that I've lost to her simply because I'm in love with her and know it. I lost because now I was blind and I trusted her more than I trusted anyone in awhile... not including Watari, of course, but... she just seemed so perfectly imperfect in the end of it.

With her mixture of talents and quirks and her way of talking me in circles. I always had to be on my toes, and I felt that even though one day she might confess and say that it was her, or that one day she'd show me or tell me where the money in her house was hidden... that I wouldn't be able to do anything about it. I'd know and no one else would need to... and the person that Masumi had been before she started working with me would have pretty much died and been forgotten about because she had her revenge and now all she needed to do was trust me in return.

Sighing, I realized that, once again, she had taken over my thoughts. I needed to work on this case and get rid of it. Masumi sneezed in her sleep and then started to hiccup again. Just sitting there, watching as I found it typical that even her sickness had quirks.

I picked up a piece of cheesecake and started cutting it up into smaller pieces as I thought about the case and how we were going to catch this guy... and then I figured that we could just put a camera or fifty in the next house on the list, and use that to put him away all over again. Seemed like a good enough plan right now. I then started sorting the pictures in chronological order so that I could fins said next house on the list.

Two Days Later

In the past couple of days I had started working on my case in this room, I found that Masumi seemed to make up for her usual lack of sleep while she was sick, because so far she's been asleep for the majority of the time I've been here. Also, when I sent Tokyo's police force the film of the most recent arson, they look through files and found that Edwin could not be found... in fact, he showed up as deceased and had been claimed so since the collapse of the organization's building.

This meant that he had either faked his death or that Edwin had really died and someone that knew him was going around in a disguise that looked like him. Neither would've surprised me because it made sense either way. If he was faking his death and Masumi hardly knew about him in the first place, it just made things easier for him and he could continue his crimes without police having any idea who it was or where he lived because he was ' dead'. Then again, if he was someone else faking his death, it had to be someone in the organization that knew Edwin Callahan and the fact that he died.

I stopped suddenly while eating an animal cracker as I remembered that Masumi had her flashdrive with all of the files of the assassins on it. Not to mention the files of everyone else in the organization. If I could find that, then it could help me narrow it all down... the only problem was that the only one that knew where that flash drive was happened to be sleeping deeply in the nearby bed.

When I thought about it the only choice I had was to go through her usual room and search it, which didn't sound like a very good idea... as organized as she was. My gaze went to her and then to my computer screen. She also wouldn't want me to leave her for very long. She seemed to be a whole lot more vulnerable during these times. So, I weighed my options and quickly looking over Masumi's main room won out. It wasn't very likely that she'd wake up anytime soon, anyways, and if she did... I hadn't thought that far into that possibility just yet.

Within minutes I was in her room, and scanning the open areas, soon finding an entire drawer of flash drives...

_" They don't have thieves in the organization. They have techies, killers, and the boss. They're known to attack first through their techies, then their killers take out any other problems. They haven't been able to find me because as smart as he is, Marks doesn't know shit when it comes to computers, and he might even have accidentally put in his other flash drive." She smirked as she popped the piece of strawberry into her mouth._

_" Other flash drive?" He had never been told of another one._

_" It's a work in progress. I once got a virus on my computer and put it on a flash drive... then I started ' feeding' the virus and making it stronger and more complex. I have more of those viruses on hand where that little bug of disaster came from." She sounded proud of herself._

_" What did that bug do?"_

_" Ate away at all of his computer's information that I copied to one of my other flash drives, found the more important stuff, and is probably headed towards them now if it hasn't already reached them." She muttered, and then sat back._

I closed the drawer, just now realizing that she hadn't been joking around when she mentioned that, but I was glad she had mentioned it and that I had remembered it because otherwise it probably would've eatenn away at my database information and archives until there was nothing left in a matter of who knows how long. In the drawer below it I found a single flash drive with a piece of tape on it reading ' Org. Info' and took it with me, appreciating the fact that Masumi was kind enough to label it. Hurrying back to where I had everything already set up, I checked on Masumi to make sure she was still asleep, and then walked over to the table to download it. Then after a little deduction I had a list of ten possible assassins that it could be... 10 out of 40 where stilled said to be alive.

Genetic Issues With a Hint of Hershey's Kisses on the Side

Masumi's POV

Waking up in the same bed as the last time you fell asleep in a car and finding yourself almost naked yet again usually starts to make you wonder who was responsible for changing your clothes. Well, I'm no different. I woke up with a wet rag on my forehead, no wig, and a black night gown that went all the way to my ankles. It was such a detailed peice, and yet... I felt a little self-conscious with the generous amount of cleavage showing above the square hem that had a loosener/tightener that was in the form of dark purple veltet laces. The same went for the fact that it was transparent all over and the only way I didn't feel completely naked was because under it was a solid black night dress that stopped above the knees, but it had a lacey bodice that stopped at the same height as the transparent one. It was a two peice set sewn together. Puffed shoulders cinched off with the same color and fabric as the loosener/tightener, and around the hem of the sleeves and the hem on the transparents dress was solid black lining that flowed from the wrists to my finger tips...and it was covered with little purple bows. A woman had definitely dressed me up in this. One that probably thought of girls as dress up dolls. I walked into the closet and picked out a thin and dressy black coat and put it on, careful not to ruin the fabric of the gown. After finding that I still felt slightly uncomfortable, I buttoned the second and third buttons, and made sure it covered my rear as the gown seemed to mold to my form a little too nicely.

Normally I wouldn't care about wearing such things ( as she has probably mentioned in some way shape of form before) but I wasn't at home and their were cameras in my room here. I sneezed and it jarred my brain a bit... and then I started hiccuping again. Do you have any idea how much I despise being sick? I can't even hide it with how it shows on me. Any color on my face is obvious unless it's dark. I huffed and noticed the tray of soup and water on the bedside table.

I smiled, knowing that Watari must have brought it in. I also noticed that there was a chair on the left side of the bed, and wondered if Lawliet had actually stayed here at one point for one reason or another. I walked towards the door, and looked around the room again. It was probably the most beautiful one on my floor... that I could remember.

' Too bad it doesn't have a very large kitchen.' I thought as I waltzed out of the room. My own room had a huge kitchen and the bedroom was the third largest room in it... the living room being the second. In fact, I think the room I just left was as large as my living room and kitchen together.

I sneezed again, and it only made my hiccups worse. Huffing ( but not without a hiccup at the end) I eventually made it to the main floor. A headache had slowly been growing on my way there, and I was coldish again.

" You shouldn't be up here, Masumi-san. You are sick." L soflty murmured from his spot in front on the monitors.

" I'm hic fine."

" You sound drunk, your face is flushed when it is usually pale, and instead of it looking like your natural skin tone you seem more of a sickly pale. You've also been asleep for the past three days. I was growing rather worried. I still am and it is even more so since now you are exerting yourself just being here and not in bed." He scolded stoically. I sat on the couch defiantly and looked over at what he was doing. I couldn't see anything but a bright light emitting from his computer as I laid down on my back, looking up at the ceiling that reflected the glow of the computer L was at. My sense of sight had gotten even worse during my sickness, while my other senses were dulled. I even had a stuffy nose and my ears were ringing but I didn't care... I wanted to actually be useful here and maybe talking to him about how the case had progressed and whatever it meant could help us learn more about who this guy was.

" In case you are wondering it wasn't me that changed your clothes and bathed you when you needed it... Miss Mahiru did." L explained, and I nodded.

" I kinda peiced that together. Only a person, usually female, would ever dress a girl in something so detailed and feminine." I caught him turn his head to me out of my peripheral vision, but just barely. It was then I noticed my hiccups were gone.

" It looks good on you. Why the coat, though? Are you cold?" His curiosity was so innocent that it made me smile.

" Yes, and self conscious." I muttered in response.

" Why? You have no reason to be." When I heard this, my eyes snapped to him, and then my mind wandered to the fact that the camera in the bathroom of the room I was in was still connected and had been the whole time I was unconscious.

" Have you seen me naked?" Even my dagger throwing glare was weak.

" She only changed you in the bathroom and I kept that camera off... I figured that conscious or not you would still want to keep you dignity." This was the first time I had been glad I was sick in awhile, since my blush was hidden by my already rosy cheeks.

" I appreciate it. Thank you." My nearly inaudible murmur seemed to have been heard by him, and he nodded.

" May I ask why you came to this floor while ill?" He questioned. I decided to answer.

" Many reasons, Lawliet. One of them being that I would like to know how the case is going?"

" Well, it hasn't progressed very much, I'm afraid. You haven't been to your shop in awhile."

" When we finally solve this case. I'm selling my shop and keeping my house." My teeth were so sensitive that it hurt to grit them as I said those sentences.

" Because you still have your stolen money there or because it's the only thing you'd have left of your parents then?" I was too tired and crappy feeling to be angry.

" The later, of course." I flipppantly whispered. Then I stood up, and slowly with attempted steadiness made my way to the kitchen doors. I didn't make it far from the couch before I heard.

" Don't even think about it, Masumi-san. It is not wise for you to try cooking while you are in such a state. You can hardly walk." His statement bothered me and so I stubbornly continued. Not even five steps later I felt myself get picked up and I squeaked with shock. L was holding my bridal style and I could feel his body heat radiate from him to me.

" As much as I admire your will, Masumi-san, I will not let you over exert yourself. You need to stay in bed." Too weak to struggle, and too rebellious to let myself fall asleep, I stuck with just frowning as he, gently laid me back in my bed, and covered me with the sheets and blankets. He didn't walk away immediately... instead he got closer and hid his face in the curve of my neck. Without realzing it I inhaled sharply as his breath brushed my neck. The feeling was tantalizing.

" I want you to get better as soon as possible just as much as you do, but if you spend that time out of bed, I'm concerned that you might make things worse for yourself and that you will get worse." I turned my head to the other side trying to hide a blush he probably didn't know I had under the sickness causing heat of my face.

" Stay here." I heard myself boldly susurrate. He paused, and moved his head up from my neck. I could feel cold air rush to the area, and felt a pang of disappointment.

" What was that?" His inquiring tone urged me to answer.

" Bring your work here, and... and stay in with me until I get well enough to continue playing our new game." It was probably the most pathetic demand I had ever made, but I didn't want to be alone. I hated to be alone when I was sick. Another reason I had taken the time and energy to get to where he was. I became very needy, greedy, and dependent when I was sick.

Watching for a reaction on his expressionless face didn't help me until he leaned down again and kissed my forehead lightly.

" Very well, then." Was his reply before he walked into the bathroom and said something about bringing his stuff down to Watari. Before I fell asleep, I saw him in the chair I saw when I got up before.

L's POV

I saw in the chair to her left watching her as she slept. When Watari arrived with everything I needed and set it down at a table that I had moved from the dining room into the spaceous bedroom, I got a wash rag from the bathroom, folded it up, and placed it on her forehead. I got everything back to where I had it when I was upstairs and wondered how the unconcious girl in bed had convinced me so easily to stay here. The answer came back quickly and it was more of a reminder than anything. For the simple reason that I was in love with her.

Again and again, time after time I watched the camera footage of three days ago, and when I was able to match up his credit card and face to a name, I stopped.

" Novice..." Masumi must have forgotten about his face and everything. I mean, she had been talking to him awhile before she closed up shop with me that day. Not only was she sick, but this case already had her sickened from the moment she laid her eyes on the pictures involving the case. When she saw this, she was going to flip out so severely that it wasn't going to help her get better at all.

His real name was Edwin Callahan, and he had once been arrested for identity theft, forgery, fraud, and a number of other things that strangely did not seem to include arson. Quirky and evasive Masumi was going to have to stay ignorant of this information until she got better. What bothered me was the fact that he had acted so confidently around her as though he knew that she wasn't going to recognize him and her proving him right didn't help matters at all. He was cocky and arrogant, but professional at his game, since he didn't have a current residence that was known to his database. Meaning he was probably living out on the street or something, making it easier for him to go around, burn houses, and then find a place to hide as one of Tokyo's many homeless residents.

That wasn't even the worst part. The worst part was that he was talking to her, in her shop, knowing who she was and probably who I was and laughing in ourr faces that we had no proof that it was him. Evidence was a necessity in this case, and I was sure that sooner or later this man would either slip up... or Masumi and I would find some sort of evidence.

This had to be the worst possible time for Masumi to get sick... speaking of fake identities. I looked over to her once more, and tossed around the thought of looking up registered albinos in my database... mine held information that wasn't hacked and updated. I found the real people. When I was about to type in her current name I stopped.

I couldn't do it. There was this little voice in my head that seemed to be able to talk over the usual voice that was my own, and it was telling me not to look up her name. To wait until she was ready to tell me herself, and that otherwise she would feel betrayed and probably never want to be around me ever again. Masumi really was such a difficult person. The type of girl to smile in her sleep when she was having a nightmare. Tomorrow I was sure she would do something like that tomorrow... like suddenly seem to be just fine when it came to bringing up the Arson case that turned out to be Novice stalking her because when I really thought about it... I knew that she was going to find out this information on her own sooner or later ( more than likely sooner than would be best for her). Her mind worked too fast, autowired everything with a drive that could his fast acting computers to shame because she had basically been programmed at birth to do what she does today. A break from it wouldn't help her because her mind would be nagging at her to find something just like his had been when he first met her. It had told him, demanded him to find out her true identity and now she had somehow hacked his mind into reversing it in her favor, and now it was telling him that he shouldn't do it and that things would happen one way or another and he couldn't do shit about it.

This put a whole new meaning to thief. Masumi was a thief of money, and any other hidden things of value, but also... also she was talented in the ways of stealing from me my very train of thought. A thief that can hack and move so agily without making a sound. We were on the same team and yet I feel that I've lost to her simply because I'm in love with her and know it. I lost because now I was blind and I trusted her more than I trusted anyone in awhile... not including Watari, of course, but... she just seemed so perfectly imperfect in the end of it.

With her mixture of talents and quirks and her way of talking me in circles. I always had to be on my toes, and I felt that even though one day she might confess and say that it was her, or that one day she'd show me or tell me where the money in her house was hidden... that I wouldn't be able to do anything about it. I'd know and no one else would need to... and the person that Masumi had been before she started working with me would have pretty much died and been forgotten about because she had her revenge and now all she needed to do was trust me in return.

Sighing, I realized that, once again, she had taken over my thoughts. I needed to work on this case and get rid of it. Masumi sneezed in her sleep and then started to hiccup again. Just sitting there, watching as I found it typical that even her sickness had quirks.

I picked up a piece of cheesecake and started cutting it up into smaller pieces as I thought about the case and how we were going to catch this guy... and then I figured that we could just put a camera or fifty in the next house on the list, and use that to put him away all over again. Seemed like a good enough plan right now. I then started sorting the pictures in chronological order so that I could fins said next house on the list.

Two Days Later

In the past couple of days I had started working on my case in this room, I found that Masumi seemed to make up for her usual lack of sleep while she was sick, because so far she's been asleep for the majority of the time I've been here. Also, when I sent Tokyo's police force the film of the most recent arson, they look through files and found that Edwin could not be found... in fact, he showed up as deceased and had been claimed so since the collapse of the organization's building.

This meant that he had either faked his death or that Edwin had really died and someone that knew him was going around in a disguise that looked like him. Neither would've surprised me because it made sense either way. If he was faking his death and Masumi hardly knew about him in the first place, it just made things easier for him and he could continue his crimes without police having any idea who it was or where he lived because he was ' dead'. Then again, if he was someone else faking his death, it had to be someone in the organization that knew Edwin Callahan and the fact that he died.

I stopped suddenly while eating an animal cracker as I remembered that Masumi had her flashdrive with all of the files of the assassins on it. Not to mention the files of everyone else in the organization. If I could find that, then it could help me narrow it all down... the only problem was that the only one that knew where that flash drive was happened to be sleeping deeply in the nearby bed.

When I thought about it the only choice I had was to go through her usual room and search it, which didn't sound like a very good idea... as organized as she was. My gaze went to her and then to my computer screen. She also wouldn't want me to leave her for very long. She seemed to be a whole lot more vulnerable during these times. So, I weighed my options and quickly looking over Masumi's main room won out. It wasn't very likely that she'd wake up anytime soon, anyways, and if she did... I hadn't thought that far into that possibility just yet.

Within minutes I was in her room, and scanning the open areas, soon finding an entire drawer of flash drives...

_" They don't have thieves in the organization. They have techies, killers, and the boss. They're known to attack first through their techies, then their killers take out any other problems. They haven't been able to find me because as smart as he is, Marks doesn't know shit when it comes to computers, and he might even have accidentally put in his other flash drive." She smirked as she popped the piece of strawberry into her mouth._

_" Other flash drive?" He had never been told of another one._

_" It's a work in progress. I once got a virus on my computer and put it on a flash drive... then I started ' feeding' the virus and making it stronger and more complex. I have more of those viruses on hand where that little bug of disaster came from." She sounded proud of herself._

_" What did that bug do?"_

_" Ate away at all of his computer's information that I copied to one of my other flash drives, found the more important stuff, and is probably headed towards them now if it hasn't already reached them." She muttered, and then sat back._

I closed the drawer, just now realizing that she hadn't been joking around when she mentioned that, but I was glad she had mentioned it and that I had remembered it because otherwise it probably would've eatenn away at my database information and archives until there was nothing left in a matter of who knows how long. In the drawer below it I found a single flash drive with a piece of tape on it reading ' Org. Info' and took it with me, appreciating the fact that Masumi was kind enough to label it. Hurrying back to where I had everything already set up, I checked on Masumi to make sure she was still asleep, and then walked over to the table to download it. Then after a little deduction I had a list of ten possible assassins that it could be... 10 out of 40 where stilled said to be alive.


	19. Melting Ice Cream Sundaes

Waking up and Finding Novice

With Lawliet

He had to have been typing not stop that night as he checked where all of the currently living assassins resided.

" You know, every time I wake up and see you still here, it surprises me." He turned he head at her voice. One he hadn't heard in hours. Masumi hadn't eaten much, but she seemed to be doing a lot better today. She didn't look sick at all, actually… just tired with messy hair. When she sat up, it caused the blankets that had been covering her to slide down to her lap, revealing a different nightgown than any of the other nights. Lawliet's eyes scanned over all the different shades of blue, the black and white lace designs, and how well it fit her figure. He glared at himself for looking at her like that. It wasn't like him, and he didn't think that she was yet aware of her new V necked night gown. Especially when she got out of bed and his eye caught where the hem was and diverted his gaze to lock it on his computer. That woman had dressed Masumi something that stopped at her mid-thigh and moved with her, riding up ever so slightly higher each time she took a step. It looked good on her, like the others, but it was the most distracting of them all. When she stopped and and looked down at her ensemble. Not seeming phased she walked over to the closet, and pulled out a pair of pants, walking into the bathroom, and closing the door with soft but sure click.

Her natural modesty made him smile slightly since he had never before met a person so conservative. Then again the only women he's met were Misa and Naomi, and they are now either dead or in jail thanks to Kira and/or myself.

Masumi walked out in shorts that stopped a short ways above her knees. Like me, she was barefoot and also seemed to like the way the carpet felt as she made her way to the seat I had set beside me and immediately slouched down in it.

" Nice to see you fully awake and well, Masumi-san."

" Tell me about it. Do you have any idea how boring it is to stay in bed and not feel like being able to do anything, but sleep. I know you've progressed somewhere by now. Especially since you seem to have found my flash drive." She smiled. Then she surprised me by turning towards me and huging me around my shoulders, laying her head on my shoulder.

" Thanks for letting me be selfish and actually staying with me." The woman beside me beamed. Letting go of me, she opted to moving in her chair so that her back was resting on my side, and she could see the computer screen by turning her head.

" The cameras show that the man you were talking to at the shop about a week ago was Novice or Edwin Callahan. I checked with the police and they said that he was deceased since that day with the organization." L explained to her, and she sighed.

" Meaning it is either him or he's not and someone's playing the game under an alias just like us." Masumi muttered. It really was nice to have her back. She caught on to things so quickly, and she seemed to be back to her usual self. He didn't mind her closeness at all, in fact, he enjoyed her being right next to him so casually.

" Why would he take the disguise of Novice though?" L asked.

" I don''t know... maybe it's because he sucks at being an arsonist and the name suits him more." Masumi cracked, she sounded she thought it didn't matter who they chose take the name of or why they chose him, we just needed to find out who he really was.

" Or maybe it's because they know Novice and the fact that you may have met him once, but don't really remember him." She seemed to ponder this.

" He may not even be the one behind this… he might just be working for someone else or something like that."

" So, you mean that it might be more than one person planning this out and hunting you down?"

" They may be using me in order to find you and get you out of their way." She mused casually.

" That would make sense. I've had people go after me before… this is why I have successors."

" You seriously have people that are to take you place as L if you were to die?" Masumi asked softly before standing.

" Yes, where are you going?" She smiled and turned around.

" When was the last time you ate? Have you already forgotten that I make sweets to help me think as well as to distract myself?" I decided not to tell her that I hadn't eaten in the past twenty-four hours. I knew that she would worry...

" What do you think we should do?"

" Don't bother testing the ten that are alive. If we come up with nothing, search the streets for Novice, if he really is dead and someone else is stalking me, then we should find them somewhere around here. I may not know much about Novice, but I do know that if he is still alive... that he wouldn't have done this... he would have ran away after burning the first house unless someone was keeping him from doing so and making him do their dirty work. Probably blackmailing him. We're either looking for a lazy woman or a powerful man."

" How certain are you that it is two people?" Lawliet questioned.

" I don't know yet but I'm going to do something that is considered normal for me, and that is make sweets and eat a few here and there. I haven't had a normal meal in a week. And then, I'm going to meditate as soon as I can after I wake up tomorrow morning. I need something to prove to me that I'm still me and not some robot. I've been so bored with myself… happens when I get sick." Then she disappeared out the door, leaving L to sit there and wonder how one got bored with themselves.

An Hour later

Lawliet had his stuff moved back up to the main floor and was sitting at the table in the kitchen, watching her again, but this time for any sign that she wasn't feeling well or that she was still sick. The only thing he could conclude after half an hour was that she was exhilarated to be back to doing something she did well. The whole time she was eating chocolate chips out of the bag again. The most obvious sign of how happy she was was the smile on her face and the way that she seemed to dance around the room a little, twirling around like a child. He liked watching her when she was like this and couldn't help but smile a little himself.

" Why shouldn't we bother with the ten that are still alive?" He asked.

" Because I stole from 25 of them and that includes those five. As I've said before, Lawliet, I never forget a house or the name that belonged to the owner. Makes me curious as to whether or not he'll burn their houses down to. None of them are the arson type for one thing and for another… if they had been stalking me, they would have known that I was in their own house while following me. Stalkers may be creepy, but they are also paranoid and very private… well, usually." Masumi murmured the last part.

" How do you know this?"

" Well, you learn a lot about people from their house and how've they've decorated it. You learn a little too much when you find photographs of their stalkee in a certain area of the house. Sometimes it even looks like a spot devoted to the person. That's mostly stalkers obsessed with the one they're stalking though… and that's usually all of them." She laughed, finishing a rose design on one of the cakes that L remembered had dual flavored filling. Cherry and chocolate, he believed.

" Lawliet, is it possible that you're zoning out to the point that you have forgotten that you have a piece of cake right in front of you?" She asked sounding playful. Masumi seemed to be almost okay with the fact that she was being stalked. He blinked and she was sitting at the table across from him with a look on her face that said ' eat the damn cake'.

" You're not worrying about me, are you? Because I'm fine now that I know what the guy looks like, although I am pissed that their following me and killing the people that I have stolen from. I'm just glad I've never stolen from a family with children… I'd be pissed if he killed kids." She smiled brightly at the male insomniac, and he nodded.

" I'm not worried… my thoughts just got carried away while I was thinking of how easily you bounce back from things. I found that I like observing you when you're happy to be on your feet… when you're happy in general actually." L admitted bluntly, and she blinked with a blush, but then smiled directly at him from her spot across from him.

" Maybe I'm also happy because I know that I can find this guy with your help and stop him from killing more people." She smiled innocently, and without him realizing it, L reached his hand across the table and caressing her cheek in his hand, feeling how soft and warm she was. Then he leaned towards her and pressed his lips against hers. After he pulled away, he smiled at her as though happy with himself, picked up his piece of cake, and walked out of the kitchen.

With Masumi

Masumi was still sitting there when he left, red faced, but when she saw him smile she knew that he had learned her way of saying ' thank you' when she didn't feel like using the words.

When it all came down to it… he dealt with so much of her crap, lately. This was something that confused her a little because she was supposed to be a criminal and… he a detective that put people like her in prison. She knew that she really liked him, and that he had told her straight up that he was likely to fall for her, but she was being a coward and instead of using words… she was using sugary things that would have probably killed a normal human being by now.

Thinking about things like this always bothered Masumi because she always ended up with a headache. All she wanted to do was figure out who the Hell was stalking her, stop him, and take it easy for awhile. Throwing up in front of Lawliet had been embarrassing enough and she didn't even want to think about how she was when she was sick. Her crush on him had been steadily growing over time, and she knew that she had become attached to him.

Her mother had always told her to be careful with the people around her and trust her gut… this made her wonder if her gut had been leading her astray for awhile since she was, after all, living with a detective and actually helping him instead of going to prison.

Even if he didn't have the money, she knew that if he was determined enough to find it and turn her in… he would have her house torn apart until they found her secret fortune.

She stretched her arms and legs and was rewarded with a feeling of looser joints. Masumi didn't even care that she was still wearing her rather revealing nightgown over a pair of tight black shorts. The weather was nice enough, and it had to be the cutest one she had seen yet. Besides, it wasn't like her boobs popped out of it or anything. The fabric felt nice against her skin and she liked the lace designs that accentuated it as well. Masumi had never really cared for expensive things, and indulging herself in materials like this was new to her. Though, she did believe in the aesthetic value of things.

Before she had the time to register that time had passed five hours had gone by, and she had made nearly two carts of snacks. This made her remember a few years ago when her mother was still… how she would stay up and cook while her mother was away as a way of waiting, and when her mother had gotten back, they would talk in either the dining room or the living room about whatever. Her mother would always tell her stories of what she had done, and give her advice on one thing or another.

Memories like these always made her stop and even feel like crying sometimes, but she wouldn't cry tonight. No, she was way too close to her and Lawliet cracking this case and throwing him to the one most people referred to as ' Tiny'. You know the guy that's really the tallest, biggest, and toughest guy there. The one that reminds the other guys there that they don't have a dick unless he says so and he teaches them that by raping them sometime during the first week.

She couldn't help but burst out laughing at that random thought. Then she brushed it off thinking that it just meant she really didn't like the situation that he had placed her in ( no matter who he was) and her mind was using those thoughts in order to help her relax. She walked out of the kitchen to see if Lawliet had come up with anything new and she prepared herself for whatever unconventional plan he had to go with it.

Only God knows he would.


	20. Fighting With Popsickle Sticks

I don't know if I have his whole personality down, so could some of you, perhaps tell me if this seems to fit his personality type ( this goes for all of the previous chapters as well. Thank you! Enjoy!

Fighting With Popsicle Sticks

Lawliet's POV

I heard Masumi exit the kitchen and head towards me with a proud smile gracing her features. I never thought that the cause for my occasional distraction would be a woman on the same side as me.

" Watari tells me that you were worried about to the point that you often forgot to eat… and I know something is seriously wrong when someone like you forgets to eat. Your brain starves, Lawliet. I get sick every time I stay out in the rain for too long without proper cover." She was picking on me to let me know I had nothing to worry about. It was something she would do, I know that for a fact now.

" You were laughing earlier and I thought you had lost your mind. What were you remembering or thinking about?" Hearing this question made her blush and collapse in a fit of laughter all over again, making me almost painfully curious. So, I waited for her giggling to subside.

" It's a mental thing." Was her only reply. I knew that she wouldn't tell me anything more than that.

" So, what've you got?" She peeked over my shoulder to see the screen.

" You don't suppose you could take another step into the house next on his list, do you?" I could feel her eyes burning into the side of my skull.

"I know it is dangerous and I called up the task force and told them of my plan. They will be monitoring the area in secret, so you would not have to worry about them arresting you. " I further explained.

I don't know if I have his whole personality down, so could some of you, perhaps tell me if this seems to fit his personality type ( this goes for all of the previous chapters as well. Thank you! Enjoy!

Fighting With Popsicle Sticks

Lawliet's POV

I heard Masumi exit the kitchen and head towards me with a proud smile gracing her features. I never thought that the cause for my occasional distraction would be a woman on the same side as me.

" Watari tells me that you were worried about to the point that you often forgot to eat… and I know something is seriously wrong when someone like you forgets to eat. Your brain starves, Lawliet. I get sick every time I stay out in the rain for too long without proper cover." She was picking on me to let me know I had nothing to worry about. It was something she would do, I know that for a fact now.

" You were laughing earlier and I thought you had lost your mind. What were you remembering or thinking about?" Hearing this question made her blush and collapse in a fit of laughter all over again, making me almost painfully curious. So, I waited for her giggling to subside.

" It's a mental thing." Was her only reply. I knew that she wouldn't tell me anything more than that.

" So, what've you got?" She peeked over my shoulder to see the screen.

" You don't suppose you could take another step into the house next on his list within the next 7 or so days, do you?" I could feel her eyes burning into the side of my skull.

"I know it is dangerous and I called up the task force and told them of my plan. They will be monitoring the area in secret, so you would not have to worry about them arresting you. " I further explained. I knew it wasn't very likely that she would agree, but I had to try.

" Alright. Wouldn't be the craziest thing I've ever done." She laughed a bit looking off to the side with her head tilted upwards, like she was flashbacking. There was a look on her face that I probably wasn't supposed to see, but I did... there was this sly look on her face... the tiniest hint of a smirk. Probably the most sinister look I've ever seen on her face.

" Now what could you be thinking about?" I couldn't help but ask. Her eyes widened, red flooded her face, and she visibly jumped. I couldn't help but chuckle a bit. When her face went back to normal, she smiled enigmatically again.

" I'll be in my room meditating if you need me or if there is any other progress." She was heading towards the door, then she stopped and turned her head enough for me to notice the mischievous look in her eyes.

" And to answer your question, Lawliet-kun, I was remembering an amazing night that I had with one of my exes before he betrayed me and tried to turn me in. In the end... he was dragged to an asylum and diagnosed with some mental illness or another. I think it was schizophrenia caused by genetic inheritance and drug abuse." She laughed before she left. Soon after, Masumi was in her room playing Korn's 'Kidnap the Sandy Claws' and Marcy Playground's ' Sex and Candy'. It had to be the most insane mixture of songs I've heard since her arrival. Every time she just sat there meditating, not moving even in the slightest, it never failed to amaze him. Masumi was usually moving nonstop to keep herself busy, but this ritualistic training of hers seemed to almost completely occupy her mind.

The thing was he knew that she was aware of him watching her via camera and that she had changed her clothes. Lately, he had noticed that she wore more comfortable clothes while meditating... probably so they wouldn't distract her and make it even more challenging for her to concentrate on her show.

' She broke into 25 of the 40 houses belonging to assassins. Some assassins were also techies…an assassin is after her and it is either Novice or one of the other 14 claimed dead whose houses haven't been rifled through.' I found the list after I found the list of the houses she had broken into and stolen from written on a napkin on a plate of crepes she had made.

I pin pointed where all of their houses were, and marked the locations on a map of Tokyo I had tacked up on a nearby wall. This would make things easier for Masumi for when she wanted to break into the houses 2 different ones every night like she said…and hopefully she wouldn't have to break into all of them.

I had gone through a little more than a quarter of the cart of sweets by the time I found all of the houses. It wasn't easy to find an assassins residence.

Looking back at Masumi, the human mannequin on the screen, I wondered who exactly hurt her and why she was using these people to block my pursuit of her. Nanayo had already told her something I would have told her myself ( and pretty much did) if she had asked or if I had been as capable of reading her as that teenage girl had been.

I looked back at the chart and then my computer, checking everything to make sure I had gotten it right the first time. When I once again glanced at the screen, I saw that she wasn't there anymore. She moved to quietly and too quickly for my liking sometimes.

" Well, someone's been busy. Thanks for helping me find the ones closest to us, but you do know that it would be predictable of me to go in order of who was closest. I'll have to not only change the time of day up every time, but also the houses order." Masumi mused aloud as I felt her wrap her arms around my shoulders behind me. Lightly pressing her body into my back and resting her chin on my shoulder.

" Masumi-san?"

" Hm?"

" Why are you a thief? I know your mother was one… but you could've become an inventor like your father was or just stay with cooking and get into to something better than stealing from people. Is keeping yourself from being bored really that difficult?" I asked, and to my disappointment, removed her arms from my shoulders. She sat in a nearby chair except she sat in it sideways instead of the right way… not that I could really say anything. Her head was resting on one of the arms of the chair allowing her feathery white hair to cascade down the other side. The young woman's legs dangled over the other arm and I noticed that she wasn't wearing socks either, her pale feet were half covered by her pants. This made me wondered if she hated socks and shoes as much as I did. When she turned her head to me and smiled as though she was expecting me to ask that question sooner or later.

" You want to hear my story? Are you sure, Lawliet? I've never told it before, and I get lost in stories sometimes so I don't know how much time it'll take up." When she saw me nod her eyes looked to the ceiling and she started.

" Go back to when the Kira case was still going on… I was in high school, my junior year. School had to be the most boring part of my day because I learned things too fast…mom called it photographic memory. My mind took in any type of problem and worked it out as long as I had learned how at one point or another. She used to tell me to give school one more chance because there were still things I hadn't learned when we both knew I could've just found out about it from a book at the library. One day I got so bored that I decided to push school away by making it want to push me away. So, one day while we were taking a test… I ended up pushing my desk out the window. Then the next day I set my teacher up to get caught doing drugs with a group of kids. That teacher hated me after that, but it doesn't matter because I never saw him again." She grinned.

" That got you out of school?" I questioned and she shook her head.

" No, they kicked me out of school after I set my second desk on fire and calmly threatened to beat the new teacher to a bloody pulp with a leg from it. Then I got a letter in the mail saying I had been expelled. I think parents let me get away with doing it because she couldn't really tell me to give the school another chance when the school wanted nothing to do with me. I had gotten bored with school. I have learned more than enough about how to make a living… the only reason I made it to junior year was because my freshman and sophomore year had interesting classes that I couldn't get enough of. The only place where I fit in was Home Economics and P.E. I didn't have any friends aside from Emiko and I made friends with her because she was prone to being bullied. I had made my mark after I pushed my desk out the window during class and so no one messed with me or her. Mom made a deal with me to work with her at the shop if I wasn't going to go to school, and if she was busy with something else or sleeping I would simply run the shop that day. The rest I'm sure can speak for itself." She stretched her arms from her spot in her chair.

" You set the second desk on fire?"

" You heard me right, Detective. Dad even told it to some of his pals at work…hmmm. So, that's why he never let me work at his workshop." She giggled thoughfully before looking over at me.

" So, what's your story, Lawliet?" She asked then.

" I was orphaned young and when I was taken to an orphanage and I started from there to become who I am today." I shrugged.

" Wow, short and sweet." She seemed surprised.

" You were expecting something else?" She giggled shaking her head.

" Actually I didn't know what to expect." Masumi stated honestly.

" You really are strange, aren't you, Masumi-san?" I smiled at her, and she grinned.

" You have no idea.

Since I think it is the right time for me to leave I think I'm going to go check out that first house now." She said as she stood up and steadily began heading towards the door. Before she could pass me, I reached out and was able to grab her arm. I kept my hold firm but not enough to cause her any pain. Masumi turned to me questioning me with her eyes as I tugged her closer. I sat regularly in my seat and slowly moved my other hand up to bring her face leverl with mine. Without a word I put my forehead to hers, leaving my hand to rest on the back of her neck so that she couldn't pull away from me. From where my hand was I could feel her pulse quicken in my palm. I smiled at her before I leaned towards her more and brushed my lips against hers. When she kissed me back I was encouraged enough to press my lips more firmly to her own, the hand on her neck pushing her towards me more. We pulled away, and she smiled at me and nodded as if she understood what I was trying to say to her with more emotion than I could actually put into words. It wasn't like I was telling her that I loved her; it wasn't the time for that sort of confession. It was more like a message that was telling to have fun but to also be careful.

An hour later

She was more than likely already in the first house, and it made me wonder what was so great about doing things like that. I had never understood it myself. Sneaking into someone's house might have been exciting when it came to the possibility of getting caught, but everything else just didn't work. How does she even pick her houses. While I was waiting looking over the list again, I decided to spend my time checking to over newspapers that had involved arsons, and who they had caught as the one responsible. What I saw made me scramble away from the computer and grab the phone. I called Aizawa.

" Aizawa?" I asked hurriedly when I heard something that sounded like someone picking up a phone.

" Ryuuzaki? What is it?" He was speaking quietly.

" Is Masumi there?"

" Yeah she just went in. Why?"

" Get her out now!"

" But the suspect isn't ther-"

" I don't care! I don't have time to explain, but it is important that you get her out of that house and now!" I ordered. That's when I heard screaming and yelling, and I hung up and told Watari to drive me to the where the first house on the list was. The whole time I was worrying about whether or not Masumi was alright.


	21. Caramel Filled Nonsense

Hey, thought I'd start off with something that might be a bit more unexpected today ^_^ so here it is. Enjoy!

Caramel Filled Nonsense

Unknown POV

I don't know what I did wrong. They have no idea who I am so how could I have fucked this up? I was nice and innocent enough at the shop, right?

I mean... I had the same fire starting machine as all those other times years ago. Was it that that gave me away? It doesn't say anything about me in my profile because I was never arrested or charged for it. They never caught me because they had no proof and guys like me were never suspected. My only worries were L and that Kozakura girl. How was I going to get rid of them now?

I knew I was more worried about L because I already knew everything about Masumi. I could even possibly use her…no, that won't work.

She may be weak, but she's smart and could find her way out of a cell with a reinforced steel door and no windows.

The thing was I knew almost nothing about L. He was a blank to me. I knew he was a genius but I don't know his limits. They didn't put much about the Kira case on the news because hardly anyone knew about it. They only said that Kira had been arrested and sent to prison.

My eyes widened when I remembered the broadcast of Masumi saying that Yagami Light was on L's side at the moment. Was he the one that had been Kira? Is he still with them? I needed to find him so that I could have him fill me in on what this L person was about. Without him I was at a disadvantage.

I walked around my house and opened the door I had easily hidden from her senses. She had been too uncomfortable in this house when she ransacked it and left after only taking a few hidden valuables and weapons that I had changed to using while I worked in the organization.

She would never have thought to look around for more well hidden things after already finding what she thought would cripple me from going after her before she pulled that stunt in the organization.I would have to either find Light Yagami and find out more about L…or I would have to find a way to trick Masumi into telling me about L.

All I did was burn the house down...it hadn't even killed anyone. I looked at my emptied safe and sighed. Then I picked it up and chucked it across the room. I hated how she did stuff like that just like her mother. Masumi's mother had done nothing but play games and surely her offspring was no different. If he had to get rid of Masumi in order to get rid of L...

Then he was more than game

Two days later Masumi's POV

You know usually having this much to think about and being so sidetracked it almost gave me a headache was great, but this just made me feel uncomfortable. There was the shop, the Arson case that had nearly killed me even though I knew the place inside and out... and then Lawliet. I didn't know what was going on between us, but it seemed like he knew me more than I liked... and he could deal with me. So far, at least. The longer I stayed here the more danger I put him in but that could also be said about the vice versa. I had no idea who it was in the organization was commiting these arsons. None of the houses that I went to had any sort of fire making crap like this. It was starting to piss me off. I couldn't think of anything that was useful to this case. I couldn't help. I wanted to scream, but instead I was venting through cleaning and cooking/baking, and meditating. For the past couple of days I've been like this.

" Masumi-san." I could hear this in the back of my mind like it was trying to tell me something. I just couldn't figure it out.

" Masumi-san." It had gotten louder and started sounding very familiar. I jumped when I felt a hand on my shoulder, and spun around to see L looking at me curiously with his thumb on his lip. So that's why the voice had sounded so familiar.

" I think you should calm down, Masumi-san, feelings of anxiety are incredibly unhealthy. Are you even aware of what you are doing right now?" He asked me, and I glanced down at my hands. I had just organized L's usually annoyingly messy desk. Clutter on desks had always bothered me because I was used to things being neat after one of my...cleaning rants.

" You aren't even aware that you're shaking. I know that this case has gotten to you but if you are unable to help anymore I insist that you take a break from it." I thought about his words for only a second and shook my head.

"It would be nearly impossible for you to solve this case without my help." Here I knew I was right, especially when he made that face that said he was annoyed.

" You have a point, but if you keep this up I'm not going to let you go work at your shop as often. You must think about your health." Lawliet murmured and even though his facial expression was lackadaisical I could see something else flash through his eyes when he glanced at me before selecting a snack from the cart.

" What am I supposed to do then?" I pouted slightly. His eyes scanned over my face again.

" Maybe you could try catching up on your sleep." L suggested, and I flinched.

" I prefer to sleep when I have to and in any case I would also prefer that we solve this affair as soon as possible. It makes me want to throw up every time I even _hear_ about a person dying." I grumbled.

" Well, you seem to need sleep because you appear to have become grumpy."

He teased with a small smile. I had to hold back any signs of wanting to laugh, but I was unable to prevent myself from smiling as well.

" It's because of everything that's going on right now. We weren't able to catch him, Lawliet. He's still out there and he's going to kill again. You know it and I know it but the thing that differs between you and I knowing it is you weren't the one responsible for them being the ones killed. He's following my tail and he's letting it be known.

" You weren't the one that started those fires and you never asked for him to stalk you like this. I don't know anyone that would. Don't feel responsible for things that weren't your fault. Your mind will start getting negative and that will not help this case so I must insist that you not become depressed." This made me laugh. L was actually trying to cheer me up and that fact alone made me laugh, smile, and feel happy in general.

" Okay then, Lawliet. I'll stay positive and help you find my stalker and our arsonist." I smiled almost tauntingly, making a face.

Lawliet's POV

Masumi was teasing me now. She hadn't been kidding when she said that she also believed in an eye for an eye. Where she got it from I had no idea, but it could be so cute sometimes. Whenever she was being childish she pouted her lips slightly. So slightly, in fact that I believed that she wasn't even aware of it herself…something that she seemed to be doing more and more lately but this was just habit. Her frequent zoning out was becoming habitual even before the fragile female thief had the bad luck of viewing the photos of the victims.

I knew she wouldn't try resting and that she probably would have willed herself to stay awake unlike when she was cooking meditating or cleaning, because during those times she just forgot to do things like sleep and ( although rarely) eat. This tended to worry me as her body was already quite small as it was.

" I'm going to open shop. Nanayo is going to be there today." She smiled. I pondered whether or not I should worry about her mental state of being. After awhile I decided that it didn't quite matter as long as she was safe and happy. At least, that was how I would prefer it.

Masumi's POV

I needed to start thinking straight and soon. Thinking over the past events made me quite angry when it came to things that I was usually able to expect. Sometimes when I tried thinking clearly about the case those pictures would pop up. The bodies burned black and deep dark reds, twisted faces that had once had voices and eyes that had probably been used to scream and watch themselves be consumed by the flames of their house.

' Had he been in those houses? Did I _really_ let myself get set up by someone that had done the same thing in the past? Had I overlooked anything while I was in those houses or was there someone that had survived or that wasn't even in the building as it self-destructed… that had been stalking me for at least a year and a half… maybe my whole life.' I almost slapped myself as I realized I was in the shop and Nanayo had come early today and help me set up.

" Nanayo… do you think I like Ryuuga? I haven't been able to think straight lately and as frustrating as he is…" I sighed." I can't help but smile at him and feel so happy around him. He has these adorable quirks and he doesn't seem to-"

" Be after your ass?" Nanayo cut me off and my eyes bugged.

" Aside from the language, yes. He doesn't seem to just want sex."

" You mean you know he wants more from you than whatever you do? Wait, what do you do? Are you two dating" She gasped." Oh my God, have you slept with him? Is that how you know?"

" _Nanayo_!" I couldn't believe her. I know I should since this happened every time I found a boyfriend, but this was pathetic.

" I can't help it… it's just that those other jerks would be all sweet and gentlemanly and then later on while you were going out with them they'd show their true colors." She paused and this was when I expected it.

" Did he actually tell you what he wanted?" Nanayo had the slyest look on her face and I just wanted to hide in the back room.

" In a way?"

" What do you mean 'in a way'?" She jumped on the topic and held fast to it. I could never talk her out of something when it came to my relationships… I needed friends my own age that were female.

" Well, it was more like he mentioned it vaguely a while ago."

" And how long have you known him?" The hyperactive girl asked as she munched on a jelly donut.

" Almost two years." I mumbled. When she didn't answer I looked over at her and found her mouth hanging open at me.

" I thought you were joking, but now… seriously?" I nodded slowly.

" Masumi-chan, if he doesn't love you by now… he sure as Hell respects you." She whistled. I sighed at this because I already knew he respected me. He was L, of course he respected me. I mean, I had been his opponent in a game I started, and he didn't arrest me on the spot and instead gave me an option of working with him... and now here I am with a crush on him and wanting to punch him every once in awhile at the same time because as adorable as he was most of the time; he just seemed to think that I was working _for_ him. I would prefer to be under the impression that I was working _with_ him.

" You're living with him, aren't you? Whenever I see you come in now I see him too." Only now did I realize that Nanayo's crave for me having a boyfriend and her knowing everything about it could be detrimental to me... if it was a relationship with L anyways. Yes, L was here... he was in the back room snacking and working. My eyes almost bugged out of my head as I remembered the last time I talked with Nanayo in here. Lawliet had heard every word. I turned to the camera and stuck my tongue out at him and pulled my right lower eyelid down to show what I thought of him spying on our girl talk.

" Ummm, Masumi-chan, what are you doing? Are you okay? Do you have something in you eye?" I snapped back to normal rubbing my eye and turned to her smiling.

" Yeah, it was really annoying, but I think its gone now." I laughed nervously.

When that same guy from last time came in and smiled at me I felt like throwing up because now I knew I had been conversing with him a few days earlier so casually. Now, I knew and it was different for me to talk to him with a smile on my face and a carefree demeanor. I've never been good around murderers.

" Hey, how are you today?" He asked with a genial smile, and I could actually feel the bile moving around in my stomach.

' Don't be such a coward. Once you get rid of this guy, you're free!' Cracked through my thoughts, and I beamed at the man.

" Pretty good, you were here the other day right? I never got your name?"

" Marcus Lanaks, I moved here recently with my wife, and you are?" He replied, and something in his voice sounded familiar.

" Masumi Kozakura. Nice to meet you." I said as sweetly as I could. Made me consider screaming at him at the top of my lungs and then saying that it was a mild breakdown…though that might give us away so I decided not to do it.

" My wife wanted me to thank you for the sweets you gave her, she's at work right now and will be until at least ten."

' Unnecessary self-explanation.' I caught. L had caught this with me once but I was able to get myself out of it. Where was Nanayo? I looked around for her to find her looking at some assorted chocolates and then moving to look at a new cake I had made.

" It was no problem at all. Just tell her I said 'you're welcome'." I sincerely smiled, knowing full well that he was probably lying about even having a wife so he could have a reason for coming in.

His eye seemed to have been caught by what was under the glass protection of the display case by my desk. It was something that I knew to be a favorite of my mothers...did he know my mom? Stalk her too? What was his reason for stalking me anyways? It was a cake that looked like a giant Oreo cookie with sprinkles of Oreo cookie crumbs on it, chocolate cake with vanilla filling in the middle, and strips of chocolate on top. Probably my favorite chocolate cake to make. I had even made it for my mom's last birthday ( while she was alive). Which was two years ago today.

" How much is it?" He asked, and my head snapped towards him as I fought to keep a smile, which might have been creepy but I didn't really care. I told him the price, he bought it, I boxed it, and he left. It occured to me then that I was tempted to let him know I knew who he was and i knew he knew who I was.

I wanted to wipe the smile off his face so badly it felt like if I didn't it would kill me.

~For now...Ja ne!~

I've decided to start informing people about the next chapter ^_^ ' A Gummi Bears Greed 'is next as chapter 24! I hope to have it up soon!Reviews welcome!


	22. Twisted Sherbet

Last chapter!Hope you like it!Tell me what you think!I'm already thinking about what my next story is gonna be about and who it will feature.

Twisted Sherbet

Masumi's POV

A week later, I was visiting the guy that stalked me for who knows how long in prison. I was wearing a disguise different from the ones I used on my thefts. Long red hair, and brown eyes with light freckles on the bridge of my nose. To be perfectly honest with you I didn't want to do this and I wasn't really looking forward to it, but for some strange reason I couldn't feel satisfied with this case ending unless I saw what this guy looked like with my own eyes. it wasn't Atticus/Alan or Novice/Edwin. Edwin really had died in the organization's building collapse, he was one of the guy chasing after me that probably got sliced up by a laser system he had created.

L had offered to come with me, but settled for me agreeing to record everything on a voice recorder I had in the built in pocket of my coat on the right sleeve. I knew that no thief or criminal in their right mind would step willingly into a prison (ever!) unless they had to. Walking silently through the doors I saw the warden, who led me to his cell. There was a chair in front of it that had been set out for me. I had asked for this sort of thing because if I had a conversation with him over one of those phone things then my voice recorder would not have been able to pick up on his words.

" O'Hera, you have a visitor." The warden said before walking away, muttering something on the lines of ' strange girl not talking and just looking around every where'.

" Your curiosity finally get the better of you, Gwenny?" A voice chuckled, and I jumped and turned to the man behind bars. He looked strangely familiar with black hair and grey eyes. Wait a minute

" What did you say?" I had turned on the voice recorder, making it look like I was nervous about talking to him and even being in the same room as him before I sat down. There was this strange feeling that I might need a trash can nearby.

" Don't tell me you've forgotten your own name, Gwenovire ( pronounced Gwen-of-eyer) Rune." O'Hera grinned, and I was about to fume when I realized that that was just what he wanted me to do. Instead I just sat back and smiled.

" Haven't heard that name in quite some time. You mind telling me how you know it? Or have you just been stalking me since I was born."

" _Honey_, I was stalking your mother. I'm the one that got her killed, not Edwin or Alan. Alan was the one that got your father killed. Just your father." He spoke calmly and with a smile. Just like I would after a theft. The feeling of my blood boiling, made me reach up and take out one of my contacts, and place it back into its case. If he knew what I really looked like then this wouldn't really affect him, but if he didn't...then it should scare the shit out of him and give me the advantage in this little interview.

I looked up at him with a smile of my own and saw his eyes widen slightly. That proved that he wasn't that obsessive type of stalker that would rape you if he wasn't behind bars. That made me more confident ( a little). It just meant that if he could, he'd kill me. Now what was his real name? O'Hera...? I stopped.

" Wait, you mean O'Hera...as in Brenten V. O'Hera? That doesn't make any sense, though, I-"

" Broke in my house and actually took some of my valuables before the arson case? Yeah, I know. I saw you on my way home from the organization that day. I was also home when you took out the organization and killed so many of its members." He explained. Apparently being behind bars meant that it didn't matter what he said anymore. O'Hera seemed to be looking at something over my shoulder rather than at me, and when I looked to it, I smiled.

" They've seen your eyes now, you know." He said, and I shook my head.

" Do you know anything about computers, Cerberus?" My question puzzled him.

" No, I have no need for them." He stated. This answer made me smile.

" L has taken over the surveillance camera in this room. The cops will only see what I want them to see and hear only what I want them to hear." I explained.

" Is that why you hide your eyes? They're red?" He asked and I shook my head.

" No," I lied." My eyes are mismatched." I grinned as his eyes widened a little.

" I'm only half albino." I continued.

" Why are you here?" He attempted to interrogate.

" Just wanted to see who you were and how L and/or I weren't able to find out who you were. In the end it's a serious disappointment... I just skipped a very important rule that Sherlock Holmes once said."

" Are you really even talking to me anymore?" This realization of his seemed to anger him.

" Honestly?...No, not really." I muttered.

" Then why are you still here?" A smile washed over my face and I decided I really would do what I had thought of doing on the way here to this pathetically stupid man. Scare the living shit out of him.

" Because I want to drive you insane before I leave so that every time you hear my name you'll scream like you're a woman giving birth...and I can do just that with this story." I pressed the stop button on the voice recorder. The camera didn't have audio.

*40 Minutes Later*

I stood up and stretched my limbs feeling very satisfied with myself and my natural talent for telling stories based on experience of my past. It took me longer than it usually would've because I was talking to an assassin that didn't know the first thing about computers so I needed to be detailed and specific so each and every word could soak into his mildly toughened mind. Talking about my mother and father training me as I grew older in order for me to be what I was to day... and then twisting it to seem like something that only someone from the deepest darkest pits of Hell could tell you was something I had been wanting to do for awhile.

My stomach growled at me then and I couldn't wait to get home. The smile on my face was something I knew would last the whole day. I had my revenge and this time it was for sure. Stepping out onto the street from a building full of police that more than likely would've locked me up if they knew who I really was on itself made me feel like giggling like crazy. Though I knew I wasn't crazy because I didn't feel sorry for O'Hera after I left the room he was in even as he was curled up in a corner of his cell crying and screaming...and covering his head, of course.

Sliding into the limo and lounging across two seats I went over the levels he had gone through in order to evolve to the mess he was now in inside of his dinky cell. Opening up the mini-fridge beside me, I took out a lemon tart, and wondered how Lawliet would respond when I got back. I knew that he probably wouldn't be very happy that I drove the man responsible for my complete orphaning out of his mind... but I doubt that he would really hold it against me.

" What did you say to him to make him steadily go from being uncomfortable in your presence to utterly terrified of you?" Lawliet inquired as I walked into the main room finishing off the last lemon tart on the plate.

" Ummm, well, I told him... about what my parents did while raising me." I vaguely stated.

" That's it?" He questioned, seeming curious now. Walking over to him I bent forward a smidge and folded my arms on his knees, resting them there. My head relaxing sideways on my arms.

" Law-kun, if I told you what I told that man, you would probably commit suicide. I'm sorry to say that I cannot divulge that information to you. You are too important to me and I would never wish something as cruel as that on you." I smiled and kissed him lightly. He pushed me back enough to break the kiss, and frowned at me.

" Don't try distracting me from this, Masumi-" I pressed my finger to his lips.

" No more Masumi, Lawliet..." Hearing this, he looked at me with curiosity once again. When it came to interesting information the only thing that could distract him if he was already onto something was if he could find out information more interesting than what he was trying to find out about in the first place.

" What do you mean?"

" You know what I mean, but since you want to find out through me, anyways... I don't think I'm going to waste my breath telling you myself. I trust you enough to know what it is. In fact, I'm surprised that you haven't already looked it up."

" Unfortunately, every time I try to something stops me and I find myself listening to this peculiar feeling that I can't quite explain. I believe it's called a conscience." He smiled, and I laughed.

" So, even the great detective, Lawliet has a conscience?" I teased.

" Don't test me." He warned and I giggled as I set the tape down and played it and after it stopped, I pursed my lips and walked over to it, picking it up.

" Gwenovire?"

" Don't ask, I don't know why they gave me the name." L stood up from his seat, and walked over to me.

" That wasn't what I was thinking." He said, peering at me.

" Also," I jumped as I felt him remove my wig." You forgot to remove you disguise."

" Oh, right." But he was almost dragging me to the chair that swiveled and sat me down.

" Hold still and I'll help you with it." He whispered as he found a small towel, wetted it, and dealt with my penciled on freckles.

" As cute as they are on you..." The man trailed as he meticulously washed off the remains of them. When he was done I reached up and took out my last contact, putting it away.

" So, are we going to continue on and work on finding our next case?" My question was answered by a shake of his head.

" I didn't want to tell you until now, but after several searches of your house we found the money." L muttered, and I paused. What did this mean? Was he going to use it to put me away? Does this mean that I had to move again and run away? All I could do was stare at him, waiting for his answer.

" I thought you trusted me." I murmured.

" Do not get me wrong, I do trust you, but I knew that you were Whisper and I needed to confirm it. Also... I didn't want you to leave and so now, you can't." As childish as his words were they made sense coming from him.

" You found the money in order to force me to stay with you?" I catechized a look of shock on my face.

" I'm not finished with what I was trying to tell you..." My head snapped up at this. There was more to it?

" Instead of informing special forces like the police and the sort that it was found in your house... all evidence of it being in your house was cleaned off, and tomorrow I will call the police and claim that there was a lead in a warehouse a hundred miles or so away. They won't be able to link it to you, and will probably just match it up with O'Hera's arsons." L explained.

He was giving me a choice? I could either leave or stay.

" I know more than you might think... when it comes to relationships and love." He started.

From my spot I glanced up at him and smiled.

" What makes you think I would ever want to leave? This is the best deal I could ever have."

" You're a thief in the house of a detective." He muttered.

" I'm a thief in love with a detective that feels the same for me. We already live under the same roof, are able to help each other in bringing justice to the world, and I know I won't get bored of you or this little career of ours anytime soon." I beamed at him.

" I trust you, Lawliet... and I know you trust me. Why would I ever want to run away from something like that?" I felt something warm on my ear and giggled not used to the feeling and ticklish. Then he kissed my cheek, moving to my forehead, down to my nose, and then kissing me full on the lips. Over the week we had caught O'Hera we had gone somewhat farther than this, but as he was a gentleman and never seemed to press anything farther than he knew he could. He really was calculated with everything.

" Let's play chess." I suggested then, and he paused, and put his forehead to my own.

" I'm never going to be able to figure out how you mind works, am I?" He asked. All I gave him was a smile.

" You haven't answered my question." I taunted.

" But I always win." This made me almost frown because he was right.

" Fine, what about Halo on multiplayer?"

" You like that game, don't you?"

" The only place where I feel okay about being violent." I grinned, grabbing his hand and dragging him into the nearest room with a plasma big screen.

* * *

Thanks for reading!


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